Coming of the Apocalypse
by Queen000
Summary: Taking some time off after the Ultimecia War's end, Squall and company are forced to try and enjoy themseves, but after certain unexplained events occur, Squall and his team are forced to contend with the likes of which they have never had to face before.
1. The Events Thereafter

**Disclaimer: **_I do not own Final Fantasy VIII, its characters, or Resident Evil and its monsters. The priviledge belongs to their respective owners. I also don't own the quotes at the beginning of each chapter._

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_Ability is nothing without opportunity.  
__- _Napoleon Bonaparte

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It was a somewhat average day in comparison to what everyone had experienced previously. Most people were finally beginning to leave the safety of their homes in the wake of salvation and realizing that they were not going to be destroyed by the being who had caused havoc and chaos up until very recently. In response, the people of the world began to resume their normal daily activities.

The sky was a dark grey colour, though far more welcomed than the blood red colour it had been during the Lunar Cry that appeared twenty years too early. It was light enough not to cause darkened shadows to blanket the landscapes of Esthar, but dark enough that the threat of the sky breaking apart and showering those dwelling below with precipitation was taken seriously. Fortunately, it had yet to follow through with its threat, and the climate was at a mild temperature, not too humid or too dry, but not too cold or bitter.

Just under a week ago, the world had been under threat of extinction. Just under a week ago, civilians all over the planet had desperately feared for their lives from the threat of an oncoming apocalyptic power. Of course, they had not known how close to the truth they had been, however the Lunar Cry, where the sky had turned red and the lunar monsters fell from the sky, had been enough. People constantly feared for their lives after that, with monsters roaming the streets and searching homes for food. To them, this moment had signalled the beginning of the end, with Esthar having completely lost all of its power and thus rendering their advanced technology useless.

But this had all ended just under a week ago, when six individuals - four SeeDs, one sharpshooter, and the last a Sorceress - traveled through time to the future to do battle against the Sorceress who intended to destroyed them all, the one responsible for manipulating the people of their time in order to destroy it and to ensure that the world as humanity knew it would cease to exist.

Now, with everything said and done, with everything slowly returning to normal, Squall Leonhart could think of many things he would rather be doing than what he currently was. For instance, he would rather be fighting against the monsters roaming the Training Center back at Balamb Garden, or assisting with the monster extermination that was taking place at that moment. Or perhaps actually sort through all of the paperwork he knew was piling up on his desk back at home. In the end, he resigned himself to his fate, never complaining but considering to do so.

With his duties as the SeeD Commander, and Quistis studying to regain her Instructors License (which had been lost merely a night before the war had even started), the remaining four heroes had taken it upon themselves to 'liberate' their friends of their duties and attempt to get them to relax. Squall had tried to get out of it, but before he knew what was happening, he had already been on his way to their destination.

Now, he stood off to the side and as out of the way as he possibly could as he took in his surroundings, searching for exits that could be taken should a crisis arise. His friends and girlfriend had somehow managed to drag him into an amusement park in the guise of a Science Center. As much as he was flattered by their attempts to find something everyone, himself included, could enjoy, it annoyed him at the same time, because it seemed as though the entire population of Esthar's children had decided to venture to the same place on that exact day.

But still, the others seemed to be enjoying themselves, and he didn't want to be the so-called 'wet blanket' and spoil their fun, so he at least tried to look as though something was holding his interest. At least there had been an interesting artifacts display on weaponry back before the numerous metals everyone depended on had been discovered. Who would have known that stone was so handy back then?

Selphie had somehow managed to convince Zell and Irvine to ride some sort of spinning platform that rose up in midair every so often before lowering suddenly. From his count, she had continued the ride about five times now, repeatedly pressing the switch that would activate the machine before either Zell or Irvine could climb off. Quistis' attention was focused on an exhibit about prehistoric creatures and their role in society before man had taken over while Rinoa was fixated on an interactive display that looked like a black bowling ball with flying blue strings strapped inside. Upon placing her hand on the ball, Rinoa's hair suddenly flew out in different directions, the strands standing up in the air.

And Squall was trying very hard not to be bored.

Thinking about it for a moment, Squall suddenly recalled just how much he had changed during the Ultimecia conflict. Before the future Sorceress had made her move, Squall wouldn't have allowed himself to be subjected to something he didn't want to be subjected to, let alone trying to put a face of enjoyment on what clearly stuck out in his mind as boredom. He wouldn't have concerned himself with trying to please everyone else at his own expense, and would have probably hidden off somewhere in order to be by himself. This course of action would have been caused by his annoying care over how others perceived him; having made it easier to live up to everyone's expectations as the 'lone wolf'. It was truly amazing how so much could change in so little amount of time.

Squall allowed a small smile to appear on his features as he recalled the biggest reason for this change. Rinoa had definitely been persistent when it had come to Squall and his emotional shell, and as much as he had despised her attempts to get him to 'open up' at first, in the end he couldn't have been more grateful to her. Of course, Esthar wasn't built in a day, so there were times when he found himself reverting back into himself once in a while, and he honestly felt that, no matter how hard he tried to break himself of this habit, that it would be one thing, if not the only thing, that stayed the same about him. But he was getting better about it.

At least he _hoped_ he was getting better.

Something brushed up against his right hand and it broke Squall away from his train of thoughts. He slightly turned his head in the direction to see Rinoa, gripping his hand with hers, all the while smoothing out her hair with her free hand. "You're not enjoying yourself, are you?" she asked, but even though the words meant disapointment, she still smiled at him.

"Am I that easy to read?" Squall mentally berated himself, for both having been discovered being bored and for making it blatantly obvious.

Rinoa nodded in response while tilting her head to the side. "I wouldn't be a very good Sorceress if I couldn't read someone properly, especially if that person is my Knight. Plus the frowning gave you away. What're you thinking about?"

Squall shrugged in response. "Nothing in particular."

Rinoa seemed to accept that answer for the moment before squeezing his hand with hers. "C'mon. I wanna show you something."

The SeeD allowed the Sorceress to drag him over towards the exhibit she had been at not to long ago. Squall easily distinguished that the display contained a ball filled with electrical currents stemming from the very center of its container.

Rinoa smiled sweetly at him before speaking. "This is a display experimenting the distribution of minimal electrical charges within the human body. This ball is supposed to represent the nervous system in our bodies. I remember learning about it when I was a kid."

Squall vaguely remembered learning about the exact same thing, but he couldn't be positive. Continuous exposure to the Guardian Forces had rendered his long term memory unreliable, and, unless prompted and guided, he couldn't remember a lot from his childhood. His short term memory, however, more than made up for this and he was pretty sure that if he had not grown accustomed to using GF's in his lifetime that his memory might have been a photographic one.

But even if he had heard the lesson before, Rinoa seemed extremely eager to show him how the device worked (though he was sure he already knew how), so he decided to humour her. This is the reason why he kept his mouth shut and listened to what she was saying.

"Our nervous system is like a bunch of electrical impulses, and they react to the slightest stimulate. This results in our responses to those stimulate. For example, if you put your hand on a burner while the stove's on, our nervous system would react to that stimulate by telling the brain that the body was touching something that was too hot. The brain would react by telling the body to remove the hand from the stove before any further damage could be done."

Squall definitely remembered hearing about this from a lecture when he was much younger; although the Instructors had never used one of those devices to demonstrate it. "So, what does this experiment serve to prove?"

"It shows you how the nerves in the body work, and when you think about it, it's pretty easy to tell which message the brain is receiving from the contact." With that said, she put her index finger onto the glass and one of the miniature lights jumped to touch it, the other lights still circled on their original courses, though much closer to the finger than they had previously been. After that, albeit slower this time, her hair began to stand up on its end as a result. "Although normally, your hair doesn't stand up on end when receiving this message. It's just the body's reaction to exposure of an electrical current. C'mon, give it a try. Please?"

By the time she was finished explaining everything, almost all of her hair was standing by its roots again. Squall didn't really want to comment on it, but it was just far too tempting. "You look like a porcupine." He deadpanned.

Rinoa sighed exasperatedly. "So? You're not supposed to look like a movie star with this thing. C'mon, just try it. Put your whole hand on it."

Squall shook his head and couldn't believe he was actually doing something out of request from another person (yet another thing that changed about him he figured) and removed the glove that was covering his right hand. Placing the unprotected palm over the top of the sphere, he watched as the little lights stuck onto strategic points of his hand, and he could feel the electrical currents running through his hand and up his arm. They weren't enough to cause him any harm, but they did start to make his fingers tingle, which did feel a little strange.

Out of the corner of his eyes he detected movement, and caught Quistis looking over in their direction. The former instructor had a hand covering her mouth, feebly trying to conceal the smile on her face as she tried to control her laughter. Removing himself from the contact of the sphere and reaching up to the top of his head with both hands, he began the process of smoothing out his own hair, knowing that Rinoa was following suit. Rinoa was done faster than Squall (which was an amazing feat as she had far more hair to deal with) and immediately stepped in front of him, waving the elder girl over. "Hey Quistis! You've _got_ to try this!"

Quistis shook her head in response, while combing her fingers through the long strands of hair that stayed on either side of her face. "No thank you, Rinoa." She called over. "I'm perfectly happy right where I am. Besides, I have far more hair than either of you combined."

Rinoa laughed at the comment just as Squall finished making sure that his hair was not standing up on end anymore. He then took notice that Irvine and Zell had finally managed to pull themselves away from the machine that Selphie had gotten them on. Irvine was leaning against the wall, probably trying to make the room stop spinning, while Zell skipped that action and began crawling away from the machine as fast as he could, while trying not to bump into anything around him.

"You guys are such wimps!" Selphie shouted back at them while climbing steadily off the machine herself, placing her hands on her hips in exasperation.

"I think I'm gonna be sick…" Zell muttered as he continued his crawling.

Irvine attempted to stand without supporting his weight on the wall, but as soon as he began to walk, he nearly stumbled around in a circle before running into the wall itself. Rubbing his face with his right hand, the Galbadian smiled sheepishly, trying very hard not to make himself look any more the fool than he already did. "I think I need to sit down for a sec…"

"I think we should get moving if we're finished in this section," Quistis said, coming to stand with the rest of her friends. "Besides, we do have more ground to cover, and we should probably get back to the Residence very soon."

After the Sorceress war had come to an end, the Headmaster of Balamb Garden, Cid Kramer, had given the team a mandatory week of paid vacation to celebrate the success. In addition, the President of Esthar, Laguna Loire, had offered to accommodate them, as thanks for saving everyone's lives.

Selphie snickered at Quistis' suggestion. "You just wanna get back to studying."

Quistis blushed guiltily at the remark before Rinoa sighed. "Quistis, stop worrying already. You're going to ace that examination."

"You can never be too confident." Quistis argued. "If I become too sure of myself, I'll end up failing it, so I need to be positive that I'm ready for it."

"But either way, Quistis is right." Rinoa said. "I want to get to the 3-D cinema before it gets too late so that we'll have enough time to go shopping."

Zell and Irvine both openly groaned as Selphie cheered in agreement. Squall also frowned in response to the next plan, as he had already experienced Selphie and Rinoa's extremely aggressive shopping habits once the war was over. In their defence, all they had had time for during the war had been restocking their emergency supplies and they'd never had the chance to even glance at the other stores.

Just as they moved on, however, Squall caught movement once more from the corner of his eye, and when he turned around to confront it, all he saw around him was a sea of parents urging their children to get off the displays or showing them some of the more educational exhibits. Ever since they had come to the Center, Squall had had the unsettling feeling that they were being watched, but had yet to find the one who was spying on them. Frowning deeply, he left the room after a final look around, catching up to the others as he did.

Two hours had passed by, with everyone having found and examined other displays of interest. One of them had been a tunnel that was supposed to simulate the experience of wandering through a bat-infested cave. Selphie had mentioned something along the lines of not wanting to run into any vampires, and Quistis had assured her that vampires were nothing more than ancient folklore.

They also had walked past an exhibit with a group of teenagers around their ages, with a middle-aged man standing in the center and a man dressed in a uniform standing in front of the group, suggesting that the group was on some sort of field trip. This trip definitely stood out in Squall's mind as something to remember, as Quistis had found something intriguing about the exhibit and had asked them to stay for a minute before moving on.

"…Some serial killers are known to take their victims body parts after killing them," The guide had continued with his explanation. "Does anyone have a guess as to why?"

It was at this point that Zell's stomach chose to growl and all eyes (the students, the teachers, the guide's as well as his own friends) turned to stare at the teen in shock. Zell just laughed sheepishly before Selphie slapped him upside the head, telling him how disgusting that was before they deciding to move on. At least the kids with the guide had found it amusing and they had been able to hear sound of laughing little voices from around the corner they'd escaped down.

They had all decided to find some form of food after the incident (Quistis claiming that she had been so disgusted by Zell's stomach that she wasn't very hungry after all), and after that, they had continued their search for the cinema. Finally, they found it after stopping a few more times to look at the other displays, and just before they were about to go inside, Squall had the feeling that they were, once again, being watched. Turning around to see who was watching them, he wasn't surprised to find that the culprit had disappeared once again. He examined his surroundings, trying to find out where exactly the guilty party was hiding this time when a hand clamped down onto his shoulder, causing him to start in surprise and whirl around, only to see that Rinoa had made the initial contact. Keeping her voice down, she looked around her before speaking. "You feel it too?"

"Like someone is watching us?" Rinoa nodded in response. "Yeah. I've had that feeling since we came here."

"Same here." Rinoa admitted. "I would have thought they'd leave us alone after a while, but it doesn't look like they're going to. Maybe that's why Quistis wants to get out of here so quickly."

"Maybe…" Squall agreed. Quistis had been a SeeD a little longer than himself, Zell and Selphie. In fact, she had been his Instructor the year he had graduated. With this knowledge, he figured that Quistis must have caught on a lot quicker than the rest of them had.

"So what do we do?" Rinoa asked.

Squall didn't have to think about his answer for very long. "Let the others know what's going on, if they don't know already. I'll catch up in a minute. I want to see if I can find out who it is before you get back."

"Be careful." Rinoa warned before heading into the cinema to locate their friends.

Squall nodded in response to her retreating form before acting as though he were going to follow her into the cinema, before abruptly turning back around, and seeing exactly who it was that had been watching them.

It turned out to be a teenager; around his age if not younger. He possessed dark hair and light eyes, and was dressed casually in a pair of blue jeans, black and white running shoes and a white hooded sweater with a black stripe running horizontally across the front. He didn't appear to hold the profile of a stalker, but then again stranger things had happened to him during the last few months.

Frowning slightly, Squall folded his arms across his chest. "What are you doing following us?"

The other boy didn't seem to be paying any attention to the question, merely appearing to study his features before suddenly jumping backwards in shock. "Oh Hyne! It _is_ you! You're one of those guys who saved all our asses after the Lunar Cry!"

Squall's frown deepened in response. He had run into this sort of thing all day, which was why everyone had quickly made their escape from the students at the serial killer display before they had followed suit. It was times like this that he really hated hero worship. It was something he personally could do without and he hoped it would have died down.

"Can I have your autograph?" the boy suddenly asked, breaking the SeeD from his thoughts.

Squall stared at him incredulously. "You've been following us all day just so you could have an autograph?"

The boy put up his arms in front of him as a gesture of defence. "I didn't mean to stalk you or nothin', honest." He said. "I just told my friends that I thought it was you guys, and they wondered if I could get your autograph. I sorta didn't wanna go back empty handed, so I followed you. I'm really sorry if I put you off or something. So," he said after a moment. "will ya do it?"

Squall took in a deep breath before letting it out slowly. If signing some stupid booklet was going to ensure that he'd be left alone for the rest of the day, then he'd gladly do just that. "Fine, I'll do it."

The boy nearly jumped for joy, and Squall was grateful that he actually hadn't (it would have caused a scene). He immediately held out a book and, after finding a blank page, he signed his signature before handing it back. Just as he was about to walk away, the boy's unsure voice stopped him.

Squall sighed once again. He should have known it was too good to be true. "What is it now?" he asked.

"Well," he said as Squall turned back around to face him. "those are my friends over there." The pointed over to the left of them and sure enough, Squall took notice of a group of teenagers, seemingly pointing and staring at them. One of the group members turned to another and whispered something, whatever it was; Squall couldn't make it out over the noise level of the actual center itself. The distance between the two groups was also considered a factor. "And I was sort of thinking…you know, to make them freak out…if I could…you know…shake your hand?"

Squall could put up with a lot of things, but he also knew where to draw the line. He wasn't some public serviceman or some politician who would drop everything just to acknowledge a fan. No matter how much he had changed, he was still weary of physical contact with his close friends, let alone with a stranger. But just as he was about to turn him down, what the boy said next stopped him. "I won't stop following you if you don't."

Squall sighed in exasperation. He didn't really feel like having an additional shadow following him around for the rest of the day solely because he didn't do what the teenager wanted him to. Alerting the security detail of the building would just cause more problems, of which Squall wanted to desperately avoid. He could have easily lost the teenager, but he didn't want to go through that hassle either.

Whatever the reason, Squall had no idea which one stood out in his mind. All he knew was that to get rid of the teenager, all he needed to do was extend his hand and shake the other boys. Slowly, he extended his left arm and the teenager gladly took it in response.

What happened next struck Squall as disturbing. Something passed through the handshake, from the boy into Squall's own body, and he had no idea how to describe it or if the other boy felt it too. It was an unpleasant cold feeling, holding a presence of foreboding that was being unsuccessfully masked by a somewhat soothing sensation. What startled him the most was that he had felt it somewhere before, but he couldn't recall from his spotty memory where or when it had happened.

He wanted to break the contact, but his body didn't seem to want to respond to his brain's commands. Instead, both of them just stood there for what felt like an eternity, as time seemed to move around them but slow in their general location. The strange feeling began to grow stronger, to the point where it was becoming exceedingly uncomfortable until the boy finally removed his own hand from the contact.

Taking in his surroundings, Squall realized that not much time had passed from before the strange handshake. If anything, it had only taken about a second. Before Squall could say anything about it, however, the boy beamed at him, thanked him for the autograph and waved as he ran off towards his group of friends. Before too much longer, the group had moved on, the boy still waving in his general direction.

Squall stared at his gloved hand, wondering just what exactly had happened. That cold feeling still lingered, as if sticking to his bones like glue. Clenching and unclenching it, if only to assure himself that he was in control again, he noted that the cold feeling had passed through his entire body. The feeling still lingered and he wondered just what it was about the boy that would cause such a reaction.

Turning back around to face the cinema, he spotted Rinoa approaching him. He decided not broach the subject, but he could tell that she had sensed what he had felt. "What happened?" Rinoa asked as soon as he was within hearing distance of her voice.

Squall shrugged it off. It was something that he would figure out later, and he didn't want to worry the others if it turned out to be nothing. "Just some kid who wanted an autograph." He assured her. When she didn't look convinced, he quickly added onto his answer. "He wanted to shake my hand as well."

The added on explanation seemed to appease Rinoa, if only for the time being, since she sighed in relief. "I was starting to worry when I thought you were panicking. It was just a handshake. Don't scare me like that."

Squall forced a smile, for her benefit if not for his own. "Sorry."

"But another kid wanted an autograph?" She laughed after a moment. "Aw… you're famous."

Squall merely rolled is eyes in response to her comment before changing the subject slightly. "Did you let everyone know what happened?"

Rinoa nodded. "And we were right. Quistis did know. She just didn't want to act out in front of all of these civilians. They're waiting for us in the cinema and Zell's convinced he found us the perfect seats. We should hurry though; it's going to start really soon."

As Squall followed closely behind Rinoa as they entered the building, all he could do was stare at his hand.


	2. Unexpected News

_Life is like a box of chocolates, Forrest. You never know what you're gonna get.  
_- Forrest Gumps' Mother

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Squall emerged from the elevator leading to the second floor, and turned left at the first intersection. Normally, he would have taking the stairs, but it seemed as though more people were choosing that option and he wanted to keep away from all physical contact as humanly possible. Ever since the incident with the teenager the previous afternoon, he had been more than just a tad jumpy with someone suddenly bumping into him or placing a hand on his shoulder.

Looking at his wrist watch, he frowned when he saw that it was nearly noon already. Normally, he would have been up far earlier than that, except Rinoa had somehow managed to convince him to watch a movie with her and the rest of his team. What made things worse was that it had been a tacky zombie flick. Squall had seen the outcome of the movie coming right away; pretty much everyone who had a brain was going to die, and the only one who wouldn't was none other than the blonde female protagonist who had little sense of her surroundings and had opted to wear a stupid looking cocktail dress and didn't so much as consider wearing a bra.

Quistis had defined it perfectly that horror movies favoured dumb attractive blondes.

Squall half-wondered if that was the reason Irvine had picked the movie in the first place.

Whatever reasons were behind the chosen movie, Squall had agreed to watch it with his friends. But it wasn't bad enough that he had to endure the tacky zombie movie, but he had to also endure the tacky sequel to the tacky zombie movie. It wasn't that he had been terrified by the events of the movie (he had actually been bored throughout the entire thing), but Rinoa had been and had insisted that he stay up the majority of the night with her. The only good thing that came with watching it had been the time he had spent with his friends and, specifically, with Rinoa.

But despite the perks, it also meant that he had slept for far longer than he had originally intended. He had just contacted Cid Kramer, who was currently stationed in Balamb Garden, having already prepared himself to step down as the Garden's Commander. The reason behind his decision had nothing to do with the previous nights events. He just didn't feel comfortable leading one of the largest forces in the world if he had trouble sorting through his own life. He had never wanted to be a leader, had never felt any gratification towards giving out orders and would have preferred to fight in the front lines alongside everyone else.

Unfortunately, the conversation didn't appear to be heading in his preferred direction. Every time he managed to broach the subject, the Headmaster would interject with some other form of business that needed to be taken care of.

"The paperwork on your desk has been divided into sections thanks to Xu, so now your work station appears to be better organized," Cid interjected, once again successfully changing the subject. "How is the operation in Esthar handling itself?"

Sighing for the umpteenth time since he had gotten out of bed as he made another turn leading him further away from the elevator lobby, he answered the question that had been addressed to him. At the exact same time, he managed to juggle the mug of coffee he held in his right hand, the manila folders filled to the brim with files and other documents he had to look over tucked under each of his arms, and fumbling through his pocket with his left hand for the key card that would grant him access to his makeshift office located just in front of him. "So far, so good. According to my reports, nearly twenty-five percent of the monster population has been eradicated thus far, but there are still nests located outside the boarders of the city. I'll have to convene with the President in order to receive permission to extend the search that far, though I don't believe that'll be a problem."

"That's excellent news," Cid exclaimed, sounding shocked. "Twenty-five percent eradication within barely a week's time is outstanding. You should be very proud of yourself, Commander, as well as the forces you're in charge of."

"Thank you, sir…" Squall bit back a curse as he fell into old habits. "I mean, Cid." He knew that the transition between his previous rank and his newly acquired one was going to be extremely difficult, but if things went his way, he was pretty certain that he wouldn't have to worry about that for much longer.

Of course, not much went Squall's way on a good day, so he wasn't holding his breath.

There was one thing that did seem to go his way though. He managed to successfully slide his keycard through the slot on the right side of the door, and enter the correct code without dropping the cell phone, which was balanced precariously between his left ear and shoulder, or the stack of folders under his arms. His luck seemed to end there, however, as the sliding door refused to budge right away and, since he wasn't necessarily watching what was happening, he walked right into it as a result. This caused him to drop both folders, spilling the contents from the protective layer of paper on each end _and _spilling his coffee atop said contents.

The only saving grace was he'd managed to avoid spilling the scalding beverage along the front of his shirt.

Biting back another curse, he bent down to retrieve the fallen papers, almost groaning as he saw the damage the coffee had done to it. Glaring balefully at the door as it opened just as he'd finished collecting his paperwork, he could only hope that the papers dried without destroying whatever print he had yet to read. As he passed through the door, he decided that it was time to have the maintenance team in Esthar take a look at it.

"What was that noise?" Cid asked from his end.

"I just walked into a door," Squall answered, irritation lacing the words despite his attempt to mask it.

"Well that wasn't very smart of you, Squall." Cid teased from his end. "Perhaps you've been working too hard."

"Speaking of which…" Squall began, hoping to steer the subject back to the reason he had called him. Unfortunate, he was cut off once again.

"Maybe you should actually _relax_ on your time off and worry about all of this work later."

Squall took in a calming deep breath before releasing it as the door behind him slid closed. It appeared as though there was a delay with the door, which made it take its sweet time opening and closing behind anyone who entered (Squall wondered if it was just him that was having this problem), and he seriously considered dropping everything for the moment and calling the maintenance team down from whatever it was they were working on just to fix it before he could forget.

Looking up from his conversation, he immediately stopped in his tracks before setting his now empty coffee mug and papers to the side, on top of a table to the right of him. Setting the mug onto the surface of the table but not on top of the papers, he stretched his arms out before taking the cellular from between his aching shoulder and neck, holding it against his ear. He would have sat down at his desk, except someone else had beaten him to it.

The stranger who sat staring at him was dressed nearly in black, with an off-white shirt underneath a long black trench coat. The man possessed light eyes and immaculately tidy dark hair, and was sitting with his arms folded in front of his chest reclining almost lazily in the SeeD Commander's office chair. Frowning in annoyance, Squall wondered briefly whether or not he should have just stayed in bed that day before turning his attention back towards the conversation he was currently having. "Cid, I'm afraid something has just come up. I'll have to continue this conversation some other time."

"Of course," Cid stated from his end. "And Squall? Try to enjoy your time off while you can?"

Squall hung up the phone and turned his attention towards the intruder. His patience levels were already at a low, and from the events that transgressed throughout the day so far, it was steadily dropping. "You have thirty seconds to tell me how you got past security and why you are in my office."

The man didn't appear the least bit intimidated by the question. If anything, he seemed amused by it, which was apparent as his lips were curved into an upturned expression.

"Something amusing about all this?" Squall asked, insulted that he wasn't being taken seriously.

"Only the fact that no one could possibly answer both questions in fewer than thirty seconds," the man answered, speaking with a Dollet accent. "Unless of course they were born with a motor for a mouth."

"Then take your time, but make it quick." Squall was definitely beginning to lose whatever patience he had left with this man, who acted almost as obnoxiously as Seifer had. "Some people around here have work to do."

"Then which question would you prefer me to answer first?" the man asked. "How I got here, or why I'm here in the first place?"

Squall's frown deepened and the man raised both arms in from of him in defence. The way he had done it was familiar to him, but currently, Squall was not in the right frame of mind to notice such details. "Calm down. It was _just _a question."

"Then you won't mind answering mine." Was the reply.

The stranger rubbed his chin thoughtfully and Squall was seriously considering calling security on him without having either question answered. The last of his patience was slipping away from him and it was all he could do not to cast Firaga on this man.

Finally, after a moment of silence passed between the two occupants of the room, the man finally appeared to have reached his decision. "I suppose that there is no easy way to tell you this, so I'll just come right out and say it." Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, the man continued. "We really do need to have a talk."

"And why would I need to talk to you?"

"Because I'm your father."

Squall's jaw tightened at the admission and it took a moment for the information to sink it. However, his body seemed to work faster than his brain was, because he automatically responded to the response. "You're lying."

Even as the words flew from his mouth, Squall questioned the surety in his voice. How was he to know whether this man was lying to him or whether he was indeed who he claimed to be? He didn't even know what his parents looked like, let alone who they were.

"I assure you, that I couldn't make any of this up, even if I tried. I have a very limited imagination," The man stated, apparently having expected the rebuttal. "I suppose that we should begin from the beginning."

When Squall failed to say anything in response, the stranger took the cue to continue. "We – your mother and I – lived in a very small village, with very few people populating it. Despite the fact that where we lived was quite far from the rest of civilization, we were quite happy; with our way of life and with each other. We were living for ourselves, and building our own lives, not based on the circumstances evolving around us, but by how we believed we should live.

"But then, one day, your mother changed. She was pregnant at the time; fairly far along actually…with you. I don't know where the change came from, but she suddenly wanted absolutely nothing to do with me. I tried to talk with her; to find out what the problem was, but she wouldn't have it. She went as far as to tell me that she didn't want me poisoning her child with my influences, and to keep us apart, she called the local authorities, accusing me of being abusive and attempting to rape her. She told them that I was a raging alcoholic, and that I had problems controlling my anger. She said that she wanted to get as far away from me as possible, before I could kill her. And, after a long period of time, and a lot of questions, they believed her story over mine, and I was locked up in prison as a result. You would think I hold some form of animosity towards her, but I don't."

Squall slumped back into one of the armchairs that resided within the room and rested his head on his left hand; his annoyance and anger having been drained away by a numbing shock. He heard footfalls from behind his desk and, after a moment, could tell that the stranger was coming closer to stand next to him.

"The instant the charges were dropped and I was released, nine years had already passed. I soon found out that your mother had died shortly after I had been sent away, and everyone seemed to have assumed that the baby had died with her. Regardless of what they told me, however, I kept searching. There was no proof to encourage that you had died as well, so I continued to search for you for eight long years after that.

"There were times that I became discouraged, but I never once chose to quit, because that would mean accepting that you were gone. However, just as I had thought I would never find you, I recently heard your name on the news and I knew that I had to find you; that you were the one that I was looking for. I took the train to Esthar from Timber, even though they were weary of setting it up after the War ended, and came looking for you as soon as I could. I actually found you yesterday afternoon. Do you remember that teenager who wanted your autograph?"

Squall immediately shot his head up at this revelation, perfectly aware that he had failed to mask his surprise. It seemed impossible in his mind for a man who appeared to be reaching his fifties to be able to successfully disguise himself as someone his own age of seventeen. He would have been able to see through it instantly, and yet he hadn't.

Then again, he thought to himself, I did notice that something was off about him.

His gaze turned from the stranger towards his left hand. The cold feeling that had gripped him in the previous afternoon had faded away as the day passed by, but that didn't mean that he had forgotten it completely. But even with that thought in mind, it still didn't make any sense to him.

"I was the one following you yesterday, and when you surprised me by turning around immediately, I disguised myself as the first thing I could think of. How I accomplished it is a very long story that I will save for another time."

"And the group of people you claimed to be with?" Squall asked after a moment had passed between them.

"An illusion," the stranger explained. "one that only you were able to see. Everyone else around you merely saw an empty space. Once again, a story for another time."

A moment passed by where neither occupant spoke to one another. Squall closed his eyes and allowed his hand to rest upon his left hand in deep thought. He had no idea what he could possibly say to this man who was claiming to be his father. He could not prove it or discredit it due to his own faulty memory. His explanation appeared far fetched, but at the same time, it also seemed to make sense. It explained why he had ended up at the orphanage at such a young age. From what he remembered from the orphanage, everyone had managed to secure a keepsake from their past to remember their parents from. It was something symbolic that they had refused to give up or to share with any of the other children. He hadn't had anything to remember anyone by; had always been alone. He supposed that was the reason he chose to cling to Ellone. Because he didn't know if she had had anything to remember her family by, he could have believed they were almost the same.

With their items, the other children had had a story to tell about their families. He had had nothing.

It wasn't that he was jealous of the others. He respected that they had had something to treasure, and that it had all come down to circumstance, and in its defence, he believed that he had to be where he had been in order to defeat Ultimecia. It didn't disregard that he wished things had turned out differently, but he understood that no one had the power to change the past.

"Look…" the stranger spoke, breaking the tense silence. "I know this is a lot to swallow, and all at once especially. I don't expect you to make up your mind about me right away. So how about I leave you alone to think it through for now? If you have any questions, or if you just want to chat," he pulled out a piece of paper with a number scrawled onto it from his date book. "use this number. No one else has it, not even my business associates, so you won't need to worry about being put on hold or anything.

"If you find that you don't want to have anything to do with me at this point, then I'll understand completely."

He handed the number to Squall, who automatically accepted the offering without even thinking about it, and the footfalls that came thereafter indicated that the man was leaving. The SeeD didn't even look up when he heard the door slide open and shut behind him.


	3. The Choices People Make

_A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.  
_- Chinese Proverb

* * *

Throughout the rest of the day, Squall had been unable to concentrate on the work he knew needed to be done. Instead, his mind insisted on wondering back to the conversation he had had with the strange man, the one who claimed to be his father. These thoughts would then, co-incidentally, wonder to the number that he had received. Each time he managed to focus on the work he had set for himself to do, his mind traveled back in time and stubbornly forced him to focus his thoughts solely on that. By the time two o'clock had come around, Squall had given up hope of getting any work completed and packed his things up, preparing to call it quits for the day. The entire thing concerned him, since he had never been this shaken up since Rinoa had fallen into a coma after inheriting Matron's powers. It was turning him into a wreck.

He had become so deep in his thoughts that he hadn't even realized he had arrived at the room he was staying in until he nearly passed the door. He and Rinoa had both received separate rooms, but both had felt more than just a little comfortable in sharing his in the end. Entering the room, he hoped he hadn't woken Rinoa up until he saw her sitting up waiting for him, nursing a cold drink in her hand. She had seemed surprised that he had come in earlier and that was when he told her what had happened earlier in the day.

When he had finished, Rinoa hadn't said anything, nor had he expected her to. The expression on her face told of her shock, the same shock he had fallen into when he had first been told. Rinoa had told him what she thought then, something that he figured she would have done, but it surprised him how easily she could see each outcome. She told him that it would be wonderful if it turned out that this man was telling the truth, but she also warned him that he should be careful, just in case he was merely using him. He had thought of either outcome himself, so this wasn't new news to him.

Next, he had told the others, the ones he had grown up with for the better part of his life. They had shared his shock as well, not that he was surprised by this, but they all seemed to focus on the negative, that this man could just be using the timing to use him solely because of the accomplishments Squall had achieved on his own. Rinoa had then expressed her desire for it to be true, that everyone deserved to have a family of their own, and that those who did tended to take it for granted.

This had all taken place a few days ago, and Squall was mentally considering his options. No work had been completed since he had received the news, and he had the sneaking suspicion that he wouldn't get any work done thereafter until he had come to a decision on the subject. He was sitting inside of his office behind his desk, with a pile of reports waiting to be read on his right hand side, waiting to be filed onto the left hand side of his desk, in the sign that he had, indeed, read through them and signed them. So far, that side of his desk was bare.

Having discarded his jacket onto one of the armchairs as he had first entered the office, he now sat at his desk, his chin being propped up by his left hand while drumming the fingers on his right hand atop of his desk. Nothing was getting done, and he was obsessing with a possibility that, by all rights, could be nothing more than a cruel joke, but he just couldn't seem to help himself.

Normally, he would have made his decision on the subject by then, but due to the incidents that had taken place in the past couple of months, he was having a difficult time deciding just what that decision was. A part of him who was always weary and suspicious of any human contact outside of those he trusted argued vehemently against allowing the man any kind of acceptance, while the other part of him desperately rallied in favour of speaking to him. Whenever he made a point supporting one side of the argument, he seemed to create a counter-point to that argument, and continued to do so until he couldn't think about it anymore. He had already written out all of the pro's and con's to meeting with him as well as the pro's and con's of just ignoring what the man had to say, and so far, neither argument seemed to outweigh the other.

Having picked up his pen in the midst of thinking of another argument, he threw it down in disgust when the thought escaped him. Burying his head into his hands in mental frustration, he realized, not for the first time, that he had absolutely no idea what he should do. The fact that neither argument seemed to outweigh the other was driving him to his breaking point, and he needed to get some work done.

He needed a second opinion, this much he knew. But he didn't know who he should ask, because everyone who was close to him knew of the situation, and he had already evaluated each of their opinions on the subject, and countered them to the point where it made his head hurt. Rinoa seemed to be in the same position he was in, not knowing what to do, but being able to see two different results to the same predicament.

Frowning at the options in his mind, he caught an idea as it was about to pass him by and then wished he had just let it do so. The idea was stupid, but was probably the only way he was going to make a decision in this case. Fishing out a coin from within his pockets, he sat it in the palm of his hand, sighing at the childishness of the solution before he closed his eyes and formed a fist around the coin.

_I can't believe I'm actually chancing a decision on something so fleeting as luck_, Squall thought to himself before tossing the coin into the air, hoping that it didn't land on its edge (with his luck, it was definitely a possibility). _Heads, I talk to him. Tails, I don't_.

He reached out to catch the small object, only to miss and watch as it bounced onto the floor, rolling to the left of where he sat before finally reaching the bookshelf nearby. It rolled underneath the object before a small clanking sound indicated that it had stopped.

Fuck.

Squall decided, at that point, Hyne hated him.

After taking five minutes of his time moving the extremely heavy bookshelf (Squall figured that it was only heavy because he wasn't junctioned ), he was finally able to fish out the coin and upon picking it up off the ground, he discovered what decision luck had made for him.

Heads.

Feeling better already now that his decision had been made, Squall returned to his desk and began to search for the phone number that the stranger had given to him, hoping that he hadn't left it somewhere it could have gotten lost. He finally located it pinned on the bulletin wall next to an assortment of dates, maps and plans sectioned off for the monster extermination team. How it had gotten there, Squall had no recollection of, and doubted that he would have left it over there in the first place. Nevertheless, he had found it, and upon retrieving it, he returned to his desk, only to stare at the phone to the left of him.

_C'mon Squall, you made the agreement. The coin landed on heads, so that means you call him. If you don't, then this whole thing is going to haunt you to the point where you'll never be able to get any work done ever again._

Taking in a deep breath before letting it out slowly, he reached for the receiver and dialled the number. However, just as he finished dialling, a feeling of anxiety swept over him and he ended up slamming the receiver back onto the hook of the phone before mentally berating himself for being such a coward. Picking up the receiver again, he re-dialled the number, this time staying on the line to hear that it was, indeed ringing. The stranger hadn't lied to him about the number, that's for certain.

His nerves got the better of him after the second ring, and he hung up once more, this time allowing his forehead to rest on top of his upturned palms.

_This is ridiculous. You're just making a phone call. There's nothing terrifying about that. Just take in a deep breath and get it over with._

Following the commands of his mind, Squall took in a deep breath, released it and then picked up the receiver once again, dialling the number slowly, making sure that he imputed the numbers correctly. His resolve began to waver as the phone rang, waiting to be picked up at the other end. Still, he held the receiver tightly, as though it would suddenly slip through his fingers and end up being placed back onto its hook once again. He waited for the person on the opposite end to pick up the phone.

Finally, someone did. The voice was familiar. It belonged to the man he had spoken to merely a few days prior. At least this proved one thing, he definitely hadn't lied about the number.

"Hello?" the man said on the opposite end.

Squall opened his mouth to say something, but no sound came out. He couldn't believe that he was actually choking at a time like this. He managed to stay on the phone for this long already, even after his resolve began to waver more. He tried to get his voice to work again, but his vocal cords seemed to have constricted, refusing to allow this course of action.

"Hello?" the voice sounded a bit inquisitive towards the fact that no one was responding.

The receiver found its way to the hook and Squall felt like a fool.

_How the mighty have fallen,_ he thought to himself bitterly. He could save the world from two Sorceresses, but he couldn't even pick up the phone and talk to a man who just _might_ be related to him. It was a disappointing thought in his mind, one that embarrassed him greatly and yet, there was nothing he could do to overcome his anxiety towards the situation.

He resolved then and there that _no one _was to know of this.

When he had debated choices he had in front of him relating to this situation, or flipped the coin to make the deciding decision, he had not ruled in that he would be nervous.

He considered trying one more time before calling it quits when the phone next to him began to ring. He looked at it curiously before checking the caller ID, only to realize that the man he had attempted three times to contact was calling him back. Taking in a deep breath, he figured that he should at least answer it and explain why he had continuously hung up on him. He deserved that much at the least, didn't he?

He released the breath before picking up the receiver once again and holding it against his ear. "…Hello?"

"Hello." The voice on the other end greeted him. "You called?"

Squall could tell that his face was burning up in embarrassment, but he somehow managed to keep his voice neutral. "Yes, I did."

"I see," The man stated. "If it hadn't been you, I would have been worried, since you're the only one who has this number."

_Note to self. When hanging up on someone you need to talk to, don't. Especially if they _know_ you're the only one with the number to begin with._

His face heating up even more, Squall considered burying his head into the multitudes of undone paperwork and forgetting that this whole thing had ever happened.

"But I understand the reasons behind it," The man continued, even as Squall was berating himself for acting like an idiot. "I would be nervous too if my father just showed up and told him to call him if he wanted to… even if it was only for answers."

There was silence between the two for a moment as Squall thought about what he could ask this man. There were so many unanswered questions floating around in his mind, but he couldn't for the life of him figure out which one to ask first.

Without warning, Squall's body decided that it was going to ask a question on its own. "Why?"

The man sounded a little surprised by the sudden question. "Why what?"

"Why now?" Squall asked and realized that the question itself sounded vague.

The man sighed on the other end, however, having understood the meaning behind those two simple words, and also seeming to have expected the response. "Because I only heard your name on the news a week ago, and I only arrived in town a couple of days before I told you the truth."

"But how did you know my name exactly?" The more he thought about it, the more impossible it sounded to him. "You said that you and my mother lost contact with each other before I was even born."

"Because one of my associates remained in constant contact with your mother and told me what she had called you when you were born. We lost contact shortly afterwards, which is why I never knew she was dead until I was released from prison."

The man on the other end sighed once more after a moment of silence. "I don't expect you to believe me, but I am telling you the truth. I could probably tell you a load of reasons why things happened the way they did, but they wouldn't matter because what is done is done. All we can possibly do now is reflect on the past."

Squall nodded to himself in response, despite the fact that the person he was speaking to couldn't possibly see him. It was exactly what Ellone had discovered after attempting to go back into the past through him. You can't change the past. It was the person who was witnessing the events that changed in the end.

"So…" the man said, when Squall hadn't answered him. "Do you have any more questions?"

Squall took in another deep breath before letting it out slowly. There were a lot of things he wanted to know about; so many things he didn't understand. "…What was she like?"

When the man didn't answer right away, Squall mentally slapped himself. Of course he wouldn't want to talk about her; she was the whole reason this whole mess had ever occurred. He remembered when he had asked Laguna about Raine before time compression and the response he had received; he should've known better. It was a personal question; one he had no business asking. Shaking his head, he quickly added onto his question. "Never mind. Don't worry about it. It was a stupid question…"

"You want to know about your mother?"

This stopped the SeeD before he could say anything else. He didn't say anything in response. He didn't know what to say in response to the question. He hadn't even known _why_ he had even asked in the first place. He had been told that she had been happy before the sudden change. Asking him about her made it look as though he hadn't been listening, and it was definitely not a good start.

"Squall?" the man asked on the other end. "Are you still there? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Squall responded automatically.

"If you want to know about your mother, that's quite alright. I'll tell you about her if you'd like."

"You said she was happy."

"Indeed she was. We were both happy. She was definitely a strong spirit."

"What do you mean?"

The man chuckled. "She refused help whenever it was offered to her. She was always independent that way. The rest of her family had disappeared before we got married, and taking care of herself was something she had to cope with for a very long time. She even refused help while she was pregnant, even when the doctors were constantly warning her not to be on her feet all of the time. Excluding her stubborn tendencies, nevertheless we got along just fine. Even if she didn't want my help, I managed to assist her in some of her daily activities, especially during the pregnancy. She was small, but she was beautiful, and had a big heart. I see a lot of her in you actually."

"You do?"

"Of course I do. The only thing you received from me were my eyes, but I wouldn't complain. Actually, I think I would have complained had you inherited anything else from me. You're perfect the way you are. But as much as I'd like to tell you more aspects about yourself you probably don't even realize you have, and even if I haven't been there I know these things, you wanted to know about your mother. If she was alive, she'd be very proud of you, you do know this right?"

Squall closed his eyes at the sound of the compliment. He didn't believe there was very much she would've been proud of. From what this man had told him, she had lived in a peaceful village, away from soldiers, away from the conflicts of the rest of the world, away from violence and destruction. He doubted that the knowledge of her son becoming a part of all that would do anything aside from disappoint her. They seemed to come from two different worlds, probably believing in two different things and possessing two different perspectives. He doubted that they would have ever gotten along in the first place.

Thinking on it for a moment, Squall realized for the first time in his entire life exactly what it was he wanted from it. It wasn't fame or fortune, and it sure as hell wasn't recognition. It was something he had been denied while he had been growing up and, although there were people to fill that void for him, it wasn't the same and couldn't compare in the end.

He wanted a family.

He had already made up his mind the moment he had picked up the phone, when he had dialled the number to this man claiming to be his biological father, and he knew that there was no turning back.

"Squall? Are you still there?"

Squall shook himself of his mental musings to answer back. "Yeah, sorry; just thinking."

"You tend to do that quite a bit."

"So I've been told."

He knew it'd be a long shot, but he was willing to give this relationship a try.

* * *

The people of Esthar City were of a strenuous nature, always running around trying to get everything done at the exact same time, talking on cellular telephones, working on laptops, searching through files while speaking to clients or colleagues or any other person of value to their business. The age of technology was supposed to bring humans a means of which to make their lives easier. Unfortunately for the citizens of the world's most productive country, it only made things far more difficult.

Most people tended to work throughout their free time, in order to ensure that everything was managed and finished before the date of the accursed deadlines of which would come to haunt them all. Once they were done, rather than rest and relax, they proceeded onto the next project, keeping themselves busy and further raising their stress levels.

Due to the level of stress that was running rampant within the world's businessmen and women, people were becoming more and more susceptible to viral infection. The flu, the common cold, or any other form of illness that would attack the immune system and attempt to rend it to shreds. The notice of such forms of virus' of which threatened people's health was so common based that when a new one was discovered and appeared on the news or on radio stations, most people tended to ignore the warning.

And so the only means of warning for the newest epidemic onslaught fell upon deaf ears.

"_...In health related news, a new form of virus has taken hold of the citizens of Esthar, spreading about like wild fire. Many people have suddenly collapsed, feeling nauseous and weak before suddenly, and altogether fainting. Many have been rushed to nearby hospitals, but doctors and other medical physicians are stumped as to the cause of such an outbreak…"_

"…_The symptoms for this strange new infection is the sudden paling of skin and feelings of nausea and fatigue. People who suffer from these symptoms as well as light-headedness, lack of appetite and lethargic tendencies should report this information to their doctors immediately in order to solve this problem…"_

"_What began merely a few days ago has suddenly become a wide spread epidemic. People are encouraged to remain in their homes and to wear breathing masks or anything else of the sort in order to prevent this widespread virus from infecting any other civilian…"_

"_This new epidemic has suddenly risen to a higher level of alarm as thousands of people are slowly dying from this silent killer. Officials have blockaded what they believe to be the epicentre from the remainder of the city, in order to contain this sudden outbreak and to prevent as many deaths as possible…"_

"_People are suddenly walking again, but in a horrifying turn of events they are preying on the lives of other people around them, including loved ones. Biting, scratching and sometimes eating each other for sustenance, the citizens of Esthar wonder just exactly how it is that these current events have come to transpire…"_

"_Sources blame the onslaught of murders that have begun to take place on the epidemic that was discovered less than a week ago. Officials tried to contain the sudden outbreak, but medical experts fear that action was not taken as swiftly as it could have been…"_

"_Oh my god!_ _It's horrible! People are shuffling down the street and no form of physical attacks on their wellbeing is stopping their movements. They don't even appear to register the pain that has fallen upon their bodies."_

"_Get it away! Get them away from me!"_

"_It's horrible! How can people do this?"_

"_Where did this thing come from? Why are people doing this?"_

…_Static._


	4. What Happens Next

_In any field of scientific endeavour, anything that can go wrong will go wrong.  
_- Murphy's Third Law

* * *

The sun was slowly beginning to set upon the city of Esthar, and the action made the city's landscapes appear so much more beautiful than when she had first taken in its sight. The blue buildings that crowded the streets and sky sat contrasting against the reds and oranges of the atmosphere, with the sun's ultimate brightness sinking into the horizon far beyond the metropolis limits. Many scientific minded people believed that the action was simply signifying of the night that would come, the temperatures dropping in response to the disappearance of its warmth, and some cynical people believed that it signified the darkness that people possessed.

Quistis Trepe, like most teenage girls her age, believed it to be romantic.

Unfortunately for the youth, she had little to no time to enjoy such simple aspects of life. For the most part, Quistis had been busy studying for her instructor's license, having had been revoked near the end of the previous term. In fact, it had been merely a night before the addressing of the Sorceress-turned Ambassador who killed the long-time Dictator of Galbadia, Vinzer Deling. Thinking back on it, the blonde woman thought that, to her at least, it signalled the beginning of the end.

The Garden Faculty had been the ones who believed her to be a failed instructor, having not followed on their practices of teaching a classroom. Her new method of teaching had somehow put them off and, with the influence of NORG behind them, the Headmaster had been forced to fire her. But with the disappearance of the Garden Master, Quistis had received another chance. She would take the test that would decide whether or not she was fit to be an instructor, and she would be graded on it by the other instructor at the Garden.

So with the amount of studying she had set herself to do, it had been a mild annoyance when she, along with Squall, had been forced out of the Residence to venture to the Science Center and then forced to sit through a tacky zombie horror flick.

Sighing to herself at the memory, she had to admit she had enjoyed herself, even if the movies had been _awful_. These were her friends, people who wanted to make sure she was enjoying herself, and indeed she had enjoyed their company. But she had been raised in believing that work came before pleasure, and she would study until she either had the entire book memorized or couldn't look at the guide she was using any more.

Whichever came first.

Currently, she resided in one of the rooms of the living quarters in the Presidential Residence. It was a nice room, with a bed and a cabinet where she could store her meagre belongings, an adjoining bathroom, and even a balcony. She was stretched out on her bed, lying on her stomach with her feet in the air, reading from the guide. Rather than the peach vest and skirt she had dressed in while fighting in the war, the eighteen year old was dressed simply enough in a pair of black kakis that reached just past her knees and a simple pink tank top. Since Laguna had taken up Presidency, he had managed to bring in a set of Galbadian style dress attire and had insisted that everyone use what they wished. She still wore her silver rimmed spectacles, in order to see what it was she was studying, and her hair was in a messy ponytail in place of its nicely shaped bun, out of actual laziness on Quistis' behalf. She hadn't planned on going anywhere that day, despite the arguments she received from Rinoa or Selphie, and since all she was going to be doing was studying, she figured that the less time spent on her appearance, then the more time would be spent on actually absorbing information from revision.

At one point during the last few days, Quistis had turned on the radio in an attempt to fill the air with background noise. Multitasking was one of the many things she had been able to excel at throughout her years at Garden, and as long as it wasn't blasting itself through the windows, she could deal with it. Unfortunately, after about three hours, she found that she was paying more attention to the new-age music that the Estharian radio-casters had put on multiple times during the day, so the contraption had been shut off.

That had been two days ago.

At the moment, she found herself scratching her head with her pencil, trying desperately not to look for the answer in the book, keeping her eyes closed. She was taking a pre-test quiz, and the answer to question four had eluded the girl. After a few minutes of trying to figure it out on her own, she turned the page, singling out the answer to the question and moaned out loud. She should have known that answer.

Sighing, she pushed the book away from her in disgust before pulling herself up into a crossed legged position, and clutching the pillow to her chest protectively. She couldn't understand why she just couldn't focus on things that should have been second nature to her. When she had attempted the test over a year before, she had aced it, but now she couldn't even answer the simplest of questions.

She figured that it was because she'd had a taste of outdoor combat after having been cooped up inside of a classroom for the better part of the year. A lot of the battles she had faced during that time had been trivial in comparison to her own experiences. The only exception had been Ifrit, the fire Guardian that traveled around with Selphie for the most part, during the pre-requisite in the Fire Cavern. The Guardian never dwelled outside of its pit of lava before, and had surprised both her and Squall when he had made an unexpected appearance and had even refused to allow them to leave.

It had been a difficult battle and the pair had beaten him, although just barely. It had almost gotten to the point where Quistis had to step in outside of her boundaries as a support for her student, but fortunately Squall had been capable of holding his own against the Guardian of Fire. After that had been the Dollet exam when the Black Widow of the Galbadians had tried to kill three of the students in the exam and she had emptied a clip from the machine gun housed on the very top of the transport ship they had used to get there. From that point on, Quistis had decided that trouble followed Squall just about everywhere he went.

Looking back on the experiences of just the past few months, Quistis suddenly understood why simple paperwork was much more difficult to sort through than cutting into an attacking monster. It was the exhilaration of it all. With that in mind, Quistis figured that she might as well request being an outdoors instructor, rather than being cooped up inside for the duration of the day.

Just as her mind had been made up, she heard her bedroom door open from behind and she sighed. Quistis suspected that Rinoa and Selphie had come to badger her on dragging her away from her precious study materials. "I'm busy, as I've told you multiple times today," Quistis responded without even turning around to face them. "Why don't you go bother Squall? He's been working non-stop since he's talked to that man who _says_ he's his father."

She didn't hear a response. Not even a groan or an argument towards her remark. Raising an eyebrow in suspicion, she turned back around, only to see a Presidential Aid sort of staring at her. He was dressed in the same Estharian robes she had seen within the city, with a blue stripe running down his front. If anything, he looked a lot like the representative who had led them into Esthar in the first place.

Releasing the pillow she held, she swivelled around to face the man, a questioning expression on her face. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

Once again, there was no response.

Huffing with indignation, Quistis rose from where she sat on the bed. It was one thing to barge into someone else's room unannounced and uninvited, but to simply ignore the person asking a question was just rude. She didn't care if this man was on the payroll of the President. He had no right to treat her this way. "Excuse me. I just asked you a question!"

She cut herself off before saying anything more when she noticed the man appeared to be slightly paler than normal. Actually, his skin nearly disappeared against the white of his uniform. Indignation having disappeared, the SeeD immediately approached the man, helping him stand when he slumped over further. "Are you alright?" She received no answer.

Quistis wondered if the man was falling in and out of consciousness. That would have explained the reasoning behind having had no response to her inquiring. "Perhaps you should go to the infirmary. I'll take you there if you need help."

Before she could say anything else, she felt applied pressure upon her right arm before the Aid bent down. She thought he was merely supporting his weight using the closest thing he could and hoped that he wasn't about to throw up. However, before she realized what was happening, he opened his mouth, which revealed decaying teeth and gums, and bit down on her arm just above her elbow.

Crying out in pain, she reflexively pushed the man off of her, grabbing protectively at her newly inflicted wound, watching him fall onto the ground. What was going on in his mind to force him to bite her like that? She averted her eyes from the man to look at the bite, realizing that it was bigger than she would have ever expected a normal human being to be able to accomplish, not to mention bleeding profusely.

She looked back up, only to see that the man was slowly beginning to rise. She backed away from him slowly, but the man then lunged at her, grabbed her by her wrists and pushed them both onto the bed, as he attempted to bite her neck. Quistis bent her knee at an angle before slamming it into the man's groin, but the action only granted her attacker a slight jump, never removing his grip from her.

Cursing lightly, the SeeD managed the wriggle her wrists out of the man's hands before pushing at his head, mindful of his mouth, to keep his teeth away from her. She used her other hand to push against his neck. The man pushed back against her force, trying to bite her once again before her hand suddenly slipped and a resounding crack echoed within the room, the man slumping down on top of her immediately afterwards.

Quistis pushed the man off her out of instinct before literally jumping off the bed, breathing deeply and heavily. When she had thought someone was going to try and interrupt her studying, she hadn't thought he was going to try and bite her as well. After she managed to calm herself down, a sudden thought came into her head.

She had snapped the man's neck.

She had _killed_ one of the President's Aids.

She immediately went to the man's side, hoping that she hadn't actually killed him, and merely broke his neck instead. This was going to look extremely poorly on Garden if it got out that one of their SeeDs had killed or critically injured someone outside of contract, let alone a government official's assistant. Whether or not it was self defence was insignificant.

The man's head had snapped in the direction of where she stood and upon checking his pulse, her heart sank, as the man was dead. Looking at his face, she noticed that his mouth was agape, and revealed the gnarled teeth that were still existent within his white gums.

But aren't the gums within someone's mouth pink rather than white? She thought to herself before looking at the man's eyes, only to find that there was a milky look to them. Rather than the normal eye colouring that stood out along the eye, it was white, the pupil having slightly dimmed to a grey colour instead of the protruding black of the iris.

That didn't happen until the person was dead, and thinking back on it, she had definitely noticed that his eyes had been different just before he had bitten her.

Which meant that he had been dead before his neck had been broken.

But that was impossible…

…Wasn't it?

The pain in her arm brought the former instructor's thoughts back to reality, and she looked down at her arm, blood having already slid down to her clenched fist. Upon inspecting the bite once more, she decided that it would be best if she stopped the bleeding. Quistis immediately entered the bathroom and grabbed some white bandages from inside of the medicine cabinet behind the bathroom mirror, as well as some Hydrogen Peroxide, and several inches of gauze to insure the bandage didn't change colour too quickly.

After treating the bite and wrapping it, she figured that the next step was to have it looked at by the infirmary doctors residing in the Residence. But she didn't want to go back into the room, just in case the man got back up and tried to attack her again. If he had really been dead when he attacked her, then there was a possibility that breaking his neck had done nothing and she most definitely wasn't looking forward to having to knock him back down.

She slowly left the safety of the bathroom and entered the bedroom again, relieved to see that he was still stationary on the bed. She didn't want to leave the room unarmed, just in case there were more of them out there, and she mentally knew that she wasn't. She still possessed her Blue Magic Skills, and she was pro-efficient in most assortments of weaponry.

She immediately approached the cabinet, and pulled out all of her backup knives and firearms before checking her holster for her whip, finding that it was missing. After a moment of thinking, she remembered having stashed it under the mattress for easy access just in case an intruder entered her bedroom late at night. Another one of her firearms was also positioned under her pillow, and since the corpse was currently residing on the bed, Quistis was not taking any risks, just in case he woke up again, and so chose to leave them behind.

Besides, she had three other hand-held guns, as well as a set of knives, so she should be alright.

She re-opened the cabinet and grabbed an off-white light sweater before pulling it on, the sleeves just barely covering the gauze on her arm. She was suddenly very cold, and didn't want to run around for Hyne knows how long with gooseflesh popping up. Rubbing her arms to get the circulation back into them, as well as avoiding the bandaged wound, she grabbed her boots and immediately headed into the hallway, closing the door behind her.

* * *

"Man! I'm so hungry I could eat a horse!" Zell Dincht shouted as he and Irvine Kinneas made their way towards the cafeteria.

"Nah…" Irvine waved the shorter boy off. "If I remember your eatin' habits right, you're too picky to eat a horse. I'd reckon a horse made outta hotdogs, but never a real horse."

Zell scowled at the Galbadian raised sharpshooter. "That's not the point, Irvine. I meant I'm starving!"

"Then why not just say 'I'm starving'?"

Zell's scowl deepened and Irvine grinned. It was fun taking shots of the martial artist, because angered easy. And since he'd had to keep his tongue in line during the war, he figured that he'd make up for lost time.

It felt great to actually have some free time, now that Ultimecia was as good as dead. The President had been gracious enough to let the group that had saved the world stay in the Residence during their much-needed time off, and Irvine had to admit he was enjoying himself.

After all, the ladies loved a hero.

Of course, there were two people who were being ignorant towards the meaning of the word 'relax', but that was their prerogative. The only reason he had helped the others drag Quistis and Squall to the Science Center the other day was because Selphie had asked him so nicely. He could never really deny the girl much. He'd always liked her, even when they were little kids.

But of course, he was too much of a flirt to settle for one girl.

He had to thank Ultimecia for one thing though. If she hadn't just appeared outta nowhere and tried to destroy time, he probably would have stayed at Galbadia Garden, never having been reunited with the rest of the orphanage gang. He wouldn't have had the pleasure to meet Rinoa, or team up with Selphie to get their 'lone wolf leader' and 'the Timber Princess' together in the first place. He wouldn't have gotten to pick on Zell or annoy Quistis with his incessant flirting. He had never really liked Seifer all that much, so it wasn't a big loss that he had to fight against him.

Irvine preferred to dress like a cowboy, the beige trench coat and the brown curved hat were the biggest distinguishing features about him. The brown pair of pants he wore hung around the pair of dark shaded boots he also took to wearing, and the purple vested shirt stood out against the otherwise mundane colours. His long auburn hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail, with curled strands sitting in front of his face, refusing to be kept out of the way. He had his trusty custom-made riffle stashed away in one of his front pockets. Accompanying it, he also possessed two P14-45LDA's and USP45 in one of his hidden pockets just in case. Along with the hand-held firearms, he had two magazine clips for the USP45 as well as two clips for each with bullets for the 45-LDA's. His assortment of modified ammunition was situated with the rest of the ammunition he carried along the right side of his trench coat, positioned in separate hidden pockets. Irvine never went anywhere without his trusty riffle at the very least.

Zell was shorter than Irvine's height of six feet, standing about seven inches shorter. He had short blonde hair that sat up in the front thanks to hair gel, and a distinguishing vine-line tattoo imprinted on the left side of his face. He was dressed casually in a white t-shirt with a black and red hooded jacket overtop and a pair of blue cargo shorts that reached past the knee. They possessed zippers at the bottom, which indicated that there were attachments to make them longer, but the blonde teenager appeared to prefer them at their current height. A pair of black and red runners sat upon his feet, and a pair of knuckle gloves rested on his hands.

They finally managed to reach the canteen, and found the area to be disserted. Irvine took this moment to search the place around. It was as large as the auditorium back in Galbadia Garden; possibly even twice the size, and much taller in height. Tables decorated the room, but not as any traditional cafeteria would. These tables were round and each held different sizes in order to accommodate any size group that chose to eat there. There was even an upper level eating section for when the place was filled to the brim with workers, rushing through their dinners so that they could return to their duties.

This was one of those times that the cafeteria should have been busy, and yet it was desolate.

"Must've missed the dinner crowd…" Zell shrugged in response before grinning at the cowboy. "Guess we don't have to wait."

Irvine nodded in response, but wasn't too thrilled about the sudden change. True, this meant they could get their meals faster, but he didn't like the quiet. It seemed far too quiet in fact, and that notion bothered him. He couldn't understand why Zell wasn't bothered by it, since he was a trained SeeD, after all. Although sometimes, Irvine found himself wondering how the blonde boy managed to pass the prerequisites.

"Well…" Zell said, stretching his arms up over his head. "I'm gonna go get some grub. Maybe the cook's still here. Want anything?"

Irvine mumbled a response, one that didn't register in his own mind, but Zell managed to hear it and headed off towards the pick up area of the room. Irvine took the time to investigate his suspicions. From what he understood, places that should be bustling with people that were empty was definitely not a good sign. He looked under tables, around corners, even up on the second level, only to find that nothing seemed out of place.

Coming down the stairs, the sharpshooter shook his head dismayed. It just didn't seem right. It was as if everyone else just dropped out of existence. Scanning the room with his eyes one last time, he was finally able to locate someone.

A pretty someone, in fact.

Donning an expression of concern for her benefit, Irvine sauntered over towards the figure, who was sitting against the wall. She was dressed in the same Estharian getup that all the other officials wore, with a purple stripe running down her front; only her headgear had fallen off at some point and revealed short strawberry blonde hair. Her hands were folded on top of one another and her head was hanging in front of her chest.

She didn't stir when Irvine approached her, and he figured that she was just asleep.

"Hey, little lady." Irvine remarked, tipping his hat in her direction. "My friend Zell and I were just wondering why the place is so empty. Not that it's a problem though, just curious is all."

The woman lifted her head slightly at being addressed, but her hair managed to keep her face hidden from view. Irvine didn't mind at all. A little mystery never hurt anyone. "Well, now that it's just you and me, I was thinking; why not figure out what's going on. I'm sure that you've been wondering why everyone suddenly disappeared."

She lifted her hands from their folded position, and upon looking at them, Irvine noticed that they were a sickly white colour; almost disappearing into the white fabric of her uniform. There was blood seeping through the sleeve that covered her left arm, suggesting that she had been bleeding, but that the flow had been stopped. He suddenly dropped the flirting act and immediately bent down to check her out, not looking forward to catching what she had. "Hey, you okay? You don't look so good. Let me take ya to the infirmary."

Just as he helped her to her feet, she suddenly grabbed a hold of either of his arms and forced him against the wall. As much as Irvine was normally flattered by this course of action, she really didn't look healthy and needed to see someone.

Still, the pathway of his thoughts led straight to the gutter and Irvine had to smile at the course of action. "Hey, we can finish this later. Seriously though, you don't look so…"

He cut himself off and screamed when she lifted her head and opened her mouth, revealing dark stumps that should have been her teeth before leaning forward, intending to bite him in the throat.

* * *

Zell had hopped over the bar table that separated the cooks and chefs from their customers and searched around behind the counter. He had rung the bell three times, trying to get someone's attention, but had been left waiting, and as far as he recalled, that wasn't very good for business.

When he didn't find anything behind the counter, he slipped into the kitchen, hoping to get someone's attention. He knew he was going to get into serious trouble for sneaking into the kitchen, but at that moment he didn't care, he was hungry. He'd missed lunch, and he'd be damned if he was going to skip dinner too.

He knocked on the door leading into the kitchen, but as soon as his knuckles came into contact with the wood, the door opened marginally, signalling that it had already been open. "Hello? Is anybody home?" Zell said out loud. The only response he received, however, was his own voice, echoing back at him.

Frowning in response, he couldn't help but think to himself how creepy that was at that moment. He'd been in kitchens before, but they didn't echo when no one was in. It reminded him of a movie he had seen, before the Sorceress war of course, where this one guy had entered a room, called out to someone and then someone came up from behind him and slashed him in the throat.

After turning around and making sure that no one had come up from behind, he turned back to the task at hand and had to laugh out loud. That scene had been in a doctor's operation room, not in a cafeteria kitchen. But still…weird things did happen…take the Sorceress' War.

Just as Zell took a step forward, he heard foot falls behind him, and turned around once again, only to see one of the chefs shuffling by him. His head lolled from side to side, and his abnormally white hands blended in perfectly with his uniform. His hat wasn't on his head, and revealed a rather large indent on the back of his cranium, a stream of dried blood managing to cover one side of his face.

From what Zell understood, to have a head injury as serious as that and to be walking around wasn't healthy. He also knew that if the injury was that big, it should have still been bleeding, and yet it was dry.

He knew it was coming from the guy's head, so it wasn't someone else's blood.

Which could only mean one thing: he was already dead.

Zell started backing up out of the kitchen. He had seen enough horror films in his lifetime to know that it wasn't a good sign when the dead walked.

A scream from the canteen caused the brawler to jump about a foot into the air. He had jumped at an angle, and landed hard on his arm, parallel to the exit of the kitchen. Just as he clutched his gloved hand over the spot where his heart was, he immediately recognized just who's scream that was.

Irvine.

He was just about to get up when he felt very cold hands grabbing onto his right elbow. Slowly, he turned to his right to see one of the cooks, looking pretty hungry herself. She had black teeth and even uglier looking gums and eyes. Just as she was about to bite him, Zell wriggled his arm out of the dead woman's grasp and pushed himself as far away from her as possible. Just as he had gotten himself out into the open, he looked around, only to see that he was surrounded by zombie cooks and chefs.

Standing up, Zell tried to keep himself as far away from the chefs as he could as they shuffled closer to him, and did the only thing he could think of doing.

He screamed.

One of the chefs grabbed a hold of one of his arms, and in response, Zell ploughed his fist into the man's face, barely avoiding being bitten in the process, but successfully knocking the man off his feet and onto the floor behind him. Another chef went to do the same, but Zell elbowed her in the nose, grabbed a hold of her head from either side and rammed his knee into her face, breaking bone and cartilage. Even as that worker fell, Zell was twisting in the air, slamming his foot into the head of a third, and slamming his fist with a lot of force into the chest of a fourth, sending both to the ground around him, having sent bone into the third's brain and knocking a piece of rib out of the fourth's, the bone ripping into her heart.

After jumping onto his hands and using his feet to break another zombie's neck, he forced his legs forward, knocking them into yet another zombie's chest, fracturing more bone and puncturing more arteries. Zell found that there were still four more zombies left standing, and they were shuffling towards him from the opposite end of the room. Finding that his path was clear, he made a run for the door leading out of the kitchen and closed it, making sure that they wouldn't follow him.

The martial artist leapt over the counter and re-entered the cafeteria, looking around with his eyes hoping to see the sharpshooter that had accompanied him into the cafeteria. At last, he located the taller boy, desperately trying to keep another zombie from biting him. Zell rushed towards the girl, grabbing onto a chair as he passed by a couple of tables, and slammed the metal bottom off the back of the girl's head, knocking her out and causing her to slump against Irvine.

The Galbadian teenager immediately pushed her off of him and scrambled to his feet, his hat having fallen off of his head during the scuffle. Zell cracked a smile in response. "Never pegged you as the type to reject a girl, Irvine."

"Oh, shut the hell up Zell." Irvine remarked, and Zell could see that the cowboy had a couple of scratches from where the girl had attacked him. "Let's just get the hell outta here."

"You get no complaint from me," Zell said, but as soon as they headed towards the cafeteria exit, they noticed the doors behind the kitchen open up and three of the four zombies still wandering around head towards the counter, heading straight for them.

Neither boy said anything to the other, merely exchanging glances before running out of the room.

As they raced down the hallway, they recognized a familiar looking brunette dressed in a yellow sundress and brown boots heading in their general direction. Zell took notice that her skin was the normal colour it was supposed to be, and upon looking at Irvine, realized he had come to the same conclusion.

"Grab her!" Irvine shouted, and Zell nodded, both hooking their arms and grabbing either of Selphie Tilmitt's as they dragged her down the hallway.

"Hey!" The Trabian raised girl protested, trying to wriggle out of their grasps. Zell figured that she hadn't junctioned Ifrit, and was both thankful and ungrateful at the same time. "The cafeteria's back _that way_! I'm hungry!"

"You don't wanna go that way!" Irvine said in response. "Trust us on that one."

Selphie twisted in their grasp more upon being told what she wanted to do, but then she suddenly stopped, gasping at whatever it was that had caught her attention. Zell took a look back and realized that he really shouldn't have, seeing more zombie workers heading towards them.

"Lemme go! Lemme go!" She shouted, and was finally able to free herself of their grasp before taking off at a dead run, Irvine and Zell close behind.

* * *

Quistis was thankful that she hadn't run into any more walking corpses since her initial attack in her room when she approached the infirmary. Her arm was extremely sore at that point, and she seriously hoped that it hadn't become infected. She was certain she had treated it the way she had been taught to treat any inflicted wound, but since the throbbing had only gotten worse, she was beginning to worry.

The infirmary office door was open, and upon noticing that fact, her SeeD instincts went on high alert. Normally, the door was closed, but left unlocked, so as to alert the doctors of new entry. Something had happened to them, and she had a strange feeling that she knew what.

Pulling out her .9mm automatic, she held it raised, despite the throbbing in her arm, and silently approached the door, blowing strands of hair out of her face in the process. Taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly, she mentally counted to three before suddenly entering the room, and firing the weapon, hitting one of the walking corpses dead center in the head and watching as it fell to the floor. She fired another bullet between the eyes of another and a third went straight into the throat of the last corpse she could see. Nodding to herself, she bent down to identify the three she people who had already been dead. Two of them were doctors, and one of them was a nurse, from their clothes and identification it was easy to surmise these facts. Looking up and around, she certainly hoped that there weren't anymore.

Eyeing a shadow forming from behind her, she readied her pistol, but just before she rose to use it, she sensed magic surfacing from behind her. Looking back up, she noticed a man who appeared to be a businessman, only his head had caught on fire due to the spell that had been conjured. The man tried to grab at Quistis, seemingly oblivious to this face, but his head was sawed off at the neck due to a flying projectile having leapt from behind, and the rest of his body collapsed onto the ground and didn't move again.

Stepping back, Quistis looked around and caught sight of a familiar looking projectile, flying back onto the device that was strapped onto Rinoa Heartilly's arm. She was dressed in a black tank top and a pair of black jeans, but her blue cape seemed to have vanished, although the girl didn't seem to care at all. Her black hair had been put up into a ponytail, the strands with the reddish-brown highlights being left to hang down around her face.

The raven-haired girl beamed upon seeing the former Instructor. "I was hoping that you and the others were alright!" Rinoa shouted happily, walking over and grabbing a hold of the elder girl. Quistis caught sight of Angelo sitting next to one of the dead corpses, wagging happily as well.

"What are you doing here?" Quistis asked in surprise. She would have thought Rinoa was in the library or something.

Rinoa released the blonde and looked back at Angelo before speaking. "Well, I don't know exactly what happened. Do you know when you find a scratch on you and you don't know how you got it? Well, I found one going down along my leg, so I wanted to get it checked out. It wasn't all that deep, but I wanted to make sure anyway. Just as the doctor was cleaning my leg, one of the workers just came in and started biting the patients and the doctors. And then the patients that got bitten started getting back up and biting everyone else. It was gross! It was almost as bad as watching Zell eat hotdogs! Do you know what's going on?"

Quistis shook her head. "I don't know. One of the Presidential Aids came into my room and attacked me."

"It's a good thing you're alright." Rinoa interrupted. "You don't know where the others are, do you?"

"Squall's probably still working, but as for Selphie, Zell or Irvine, they could be anywhere."

"Then let's go warn Squall," Rinoa suggested.

Quistis nodded in agreement. "Good idea. He needs to know that something is definitely not right, that's _if_ he doesn't already."

With that said, both girls left the infirmary, heading towards the business section of the Presidential Residence.


	5. Seeing is Believing

_I'd explain it to you, but your brain would explode.  
_- Dilbert's Words of Wisdom

* * *

"According to the reports I've been sifting through for the past few days, the extermination process has just about been completed," Squall stated, staring into the visual feed that transferred the face of Headmaster Cid Kramer from his office in Balamb Garden. "The team that was stationed to complete the operation is due back to B-Garden as we speak."

"And you're _positive_ the sector has been cleared?" Cid asked in amazement, to which Squall nodded.

"A final sweep was conducted at 2100 hours yesterday. There was little to no monster activity from the city, nor within a 500 mile radius of the city. The continent is clean, and anything found after SeeDs' withdrawl should be easily taken care of by the Estharian soldiers."

"That leaves one less continent to search," Cid agreed. "Trabia Garden is dealing well with the monsters in the northern regeant, and Galbadia Garden has dispatched SeeDs to help organize the monster population along with the Galbadian Army. We may be able to organize a group of our own to the assist with the extermination."

Squall nodded, but inwardly sighed. He hated having to deal with standard procedures as the Commander of SeeD. If anything, he preferred to be in the front lines rather than sit behind a desk and command his men to conduct tasks that, according to regulations, he wouldn't do himself. He didn't become a SeeD to sit behind a desk and look at reports all day. What was the point behind all of his training if he couldn't put it to good use?

Just as he was about to continue the conversation, he heard a beeping sound coming from one of the doors leading to the office. Resisting the urge to sigh in relief to whoever his savour was, he excused himself and disconnected the conversation before heading towards the first door and pressing the button located to his right in order to open it. Immediately afterwards, Rinoa and Quistis rushed in, Angelo not too far behind either one. Rinoa grabbed onto him before putting himself between her and the door, as Quistis stood off to the side. "Close the door!"

"The mechanism closes automatically," Squall said as he raised an eyebrow. There was something in the former instructor's voice that had him concerned. "There's a delay. It'll close in a second."

"We don't _have_ a second!" Rinoa said just as the door began to slide closed.

Just as Squall was about to point out that the door was, indeed closing, when it was about a quarter of a way from being shut, a woman suddenly lodged herself between the gap and tried to reach out towards the occupants of the room. Squall jumped back in shock and Rinoa gestured wildly at the woman. "See?"

The woman was paler than she should have been, her skin was pasty white. Her hair was dark and stringy, but it was her face that had shocked the SeeD Commander. Her eyes were a milky white, and her teeth were nothing but black stubs. She reached out to grab at each of them and for a second, Squall thought that the door was going to jam, when he saw the entrance cut through her mid section before slamming shut. The body twitched for a moment and stayed still.

Just as Squall was about to move towards the body, Rinoa pulled him backwards as the woman began moving again, snarling and snapping as she began to pull herself forward using her arms. Quistis immediately stalked over towards the desk and grabbed a hold of a small paperweight before approaching the woman and slamming the object off the back of her head. The woman lay still and didn't move again.

A moment of silence passed before anyone said anything. Quistis returned the paperweight to its original place on the desk, atop of a pile of papers that had already been looked through, before Squall said anything. Pointing towards the corpse, he was finally able to find his voice. "That…moved…" he muttered dumbly.

"Duh," Rinoa responded, rolling her eyes as the word dripped with sarcasm. "I never would have figured."

"She was cut in half…" Squall protested. "And…it moved."

"Yes, Squall…" Quistis said, folding her arms across her chest. "The world has gone insane. The dead actually get up and walk around biting people."

"Great…" Rinoa threw up her hands into the air before shaking her head. "We've broken his brain. Dead people are wondering around and Squall's brain is broken. Just what we fucking needed."

"I don't believe this…" Squall leaned against the front of his desk for support. He rested his forehead in his hands for a moment before suddenly looking up and staring at Quistis. "They bite?"

"Indeed they do," Quistis affirmed.

"And…" Squall wanted to scratch the back of his head but he was just too dumbfounded. "They move?"

"I think we've established that already," Quistis sighed. "But we don't know _why_ they get back up."

Just as Rinoa was about to say something, the door to their immediate right beeped, causing all three of them to jump. Quistis grabbed a hold of the paperweight once more before Squall signalled for her to put it back down. "I don't think they're smart enough to knock."

After a moment, Quistis nodded in agreement, replacing the paperweight. Almost immediately afterwards, Squall grabbed one of the fold up chairs situated in the corner. Looking back up, he noticed Quistis giving him a look that he knew all too well. Shrugging, he approached the door. "Although, look at what's happened so far."

Quistis nodded in response and Rinoa sat beside Angelo, just in case something were to happen. Squall nodded to both women before disabling the lock mechanism to the door, and waited for it to open.

Fortunately, the only door that seemed to possess a delay happened to be the east door, and Squall stood to the side, Quistis doing the same. The door slid open, and Squall tightened the grip on the chair while Quistis jumped out to cast a spell, before she suddenly stopped. Squall wasn't that quick, and swung forward, barely missing Zell as he ducked but knocking the wind out of Irvine. The Galbadian sharpshooter fell backwards as a result, and a second later, the hallway resounded with a squeak.

Upon realizing what he had done, Squall dropped the chair and offered Irvine a hand to help him up. Quistis assumed her casting stance, and a blue aura of magic surrounded the teenager, healing him in response. Selphie was busy picking herself up off the ground.

"What did I ever do to you, Squall?" Irvine asked, sounding hurt.

"Deal with it later!" Selphie shouted, pushing at Irvine and looking behind. "They're coming!"

Squall looked over Irvine's shoulder and indeed saw more of the dead people heading towards their general location. The four immediately returned to the safety of the office before the door slammed shut, locking out the unwanted visitors.

"Okay…" Squall said, rubbing the bridge of his nose in an attempt to remain calm. It failed miserably. "What the hell is going on? They shouldn't be moving if they're dead."

"He still hasn't gotten past this part yet," Rinoa explained to Irvine, who nodded in response.

"Got news for ya," Zell said. "they're _zombies_."

Squall raised an eyebrow. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Well Commander," Selphie said, gesturing towards the side window. "it doesn't make any sense that they're walking around when they don't have a pulse, but that doesn't seem to stop them!"

"But there's no such thing as zombies," Squall argued. "It's illogical."

"They're walking, and they're dead." Zell said. "Seems pretty logical to me."

"Not to mention they want us all for dinner!" Irvine pointed out. "What the hell are we supposed to do? It's like we're up against an army!"

As soon as the question had been uttered, all eyes fell upon Squall. Even the dog was staring at him.

Squall looked to each and every one of his comrades before sighing in exasperation. "Why are you all staring at me?"

"Because _you're_ the commander." Selphie replied meekly.

"And you think I have a contingency plan for _this_?"

"You have a contingency plan for everything else." Zell pointed out.

Squall ran a hand through his hair. "I don't exactly plan for dead people wondering around trying to eat everything they see."

"Then maybe you should learn for next time," Irvine said with a shrug.

Sighing in exasperation once again, Squall fell into thought, running through every escape route there could possibly be. His thoughts immediately jumbled up as he realized that everyone was still watching him. "I can't think with everyone staring at me."

As soon as the words left his mouth, everyone's gaze averted elsewhere. Even Angelo looked away.

Closing his eyes and rubbing the bridge of his nose once more, he began to think rapidly, and dismissing ideas that wouldn't work or were just ridiculous.

_There has to be a way around them. From the looks of it, they're pretty slow, so we can outrun them easily. But they have the advantage in numbers, and could easily overwhelm us. The best course of action would be to get out of the building. It's the most obvious plan of action._

Nodding to himself, he quickly gestured towards the door on his left. "Those things are waiting for us on the east side of this office as well as the south west side. We can use the northern exit to get out of this room before they over run it, and take the nearest exit out of here. Maybe even call for help."

It wasn't a good plan, but it was pretty much all they had. They couldn't possibly stay there; those things would break down the doors soon enough, if not by sheer strength then by numbers. Everyone else seemed to think about it for less than a second before nodding in agreement.

Squall immediately headed towards the bookshelf and, upon removing one of the books, pulled out a 9mm automatic, two .45 calibres, and a 5.7mm pistol before placing them in holsters he had inside of his boots, attached to his belt, and one in his jacket pocket. Afterwards, he immediately headed towards his desk and began fishing out more firearms.

Zell shook his head in astonishment. "I thought you said you didn't have a contingency plan for this?"

"No, he's just paranoid," Rinoa pointed out.

Squall pointedly ignored the comments that were being made about him before pulling out three more 5.7 mm automatics and tossing them towards Zell, Selphie and Irvine. Upon finding a 9mm, he handed it to Rinoa, and removed his assortment of throwing knives and handed each of his comrades a package.

"Paranoia sure does pay off, doesn't it?" Selphie exclaimed as she armed herself. "Whenever we need weapons, we just look at Squall."

"That's all I have in my office." Squall explained as he placed spare ammunition clips into his jacket, tossing some over towards the others. "The rest are located in my room, but we're not heading in that general direction."

"This's it?" Quistis asked. Squall nodded grimly in response.

Rinoa suddenly began to snicker, and all eyes turned to look towards her. Upon noticing their gaze, she held a hand to her face, and couldn't help but laugh. "You should have seen the look on your face, Irvine. It was priceless."

Zell's expression exploded into a grin. "Yeah, man. You fell like a sack of potatoes."

"Yeah, on _me_!" Selphie said, but she was also beginning to laugh.

"Can we talk less and get out of here?" Squall asked, gesturing towards the door. He couldn't believe they were making fun of Irvine's reaction to being hit by a chair at a time like this. "We don't have much time before those doors give way."

"You're right." Rinoa said. "Sorry, I just had to say it."

Irvine sighed. "I'm not gonna be living this down for a long while, am I?"

Quistis patted him on the back sympathetically. "Probably not."

"Didn't think so."

Squall deactivated the locking mechanism on the only door that would take them away from the threat and immediately it opened, allowing the group of six to exit through it. Irvine was the last one to leave as it closed behind him.

The six teenagers made their way single file throughout the corridor, weapons raised and eyes open. Angelo stayed close beside Rinoa as she kept her pinwheel raised. Squall had taken the front, due to the fact that his reaction time exceeded most of his comrades. He held one combat knife in one hand, and the 9mm in the other, the others doing the same.

They walked for a few minutes before coming to a corner, and Squall gestured for the others to stop their movements before approaching it, making sure that the coast was clear.

He held up the gun before slowly counting backwards from three and turning the corner, holding it raised up, but the sight he was rewarded with was not that of a dead creature, but of the three familiar figures that he had grown to know due to his trip to the past.

Kiros, Laguna and Ward stood on the opposite end, their own weapons raised, however Laguna lowered the MP5A3 that he held in his arms. "Dammit, don't do that!" He said, bending down and rubbing at his calf bone. "Damn near scared us to death."

Squall shook his head in response before gesturing towards the others, signalling that it was safe to come out of hiding. Upon seeing who it was, Selphie immediately bounded over towards Laguna and wrapped her arms around his throat. "Sir Laguna! You're okay!"

"Selphie!" Rinoa called out. "You're strangling him!"

As Selphie sheepishly de-attached herself from the machine gunner, Squall shook his head at the display. He had seen the three before him survive a lot of difficult situations out of fluke, and he vaguely wondered how they had managed to survive this.

"Glad to see you guys are alive," Laguna said warmly. "Hopefully you guys can tell us what's going on."

"Best we can figure," Irvine said. "is that people are dying and then getting back up and eating each other."

"Already knew that, I'm afraid," Kiros said, to which Ward nodded. "Persistent guys too. Laguna shot straight through one's kneecap and the guy didn't even flinch."

"Try head shots," Squall said before trying to get his bearings. "They're a lot more effective."

"Ward says 'That's something we can use'," Kiros responded with a nod. Ward mirrored the action.

A sudden thought struck Squall and he immediately realized that someone was missing. "Where's Ellone?"

"I don't know," Laguna answered grimly, his tone laced with worry. "We've been looking everywhere and we can't find her anywhere. It was a miracle we even ran into you guys."

"Maybe she got out already," Zell said helpfully. "Ellone's a smart girl. She's not gonna stick around if she knows it's risky."

"That's what we're hoping," Kiros said. "But you're definitely right about her. She doesn't stick around when she knows it'll get her hurt."

Squall frowned but nodded anyway. He wasn't so sure that Ellone had gotten out, but he hoped that she did. If anything, he'd go back for her if they found out that she was still in the residence, even if he had to fight off the others to do it.

"If you're planning to head this way," Kiros indicated behind himself. "You're out of luck. There are more of those suckers back that way. Our best bet is to go that way." He pointed back towards the way Squall and the others had emerged from.

At this, Quistis shook her head in response. "We just came from that way. There are more of them back there."

"So we go right," Squall said. "It should take us to the lobby."

"Let's hope we don't run into any more of those zombies before we get there," Selphie said, gripping the gun in her hand tightly.

To this, everyone nodded, before proceeding in the only direction they could go in. Squall maintained his position at the very front, this time being followed closely by Laguna. Following the President was Rinoa and Angelo, and directly behind her was Ward and Selphie. Stationed at the end was Irvine and Quistis, who was left following Kiros and Zell.

They walked throughout the curved hallway, making their way towards the lobby when Squall noted movement from nearby. He knew that he might have seen something vital, but due to the tension he might have just seen light reflecting off of a mirror-like surface. Choosing not to cause the others to panic, he chose to keep an eye out for whatever it might have been.

"Hey," he heard Zell whisper to Selphie. "Did you see something?"

At that, he stopped, signalling the others to do the same.

"No, but I think Squall might've," Selphie deadpanned.

"Actually, I saw it too," Kiros pointed out. "I just wasn't sure if it was my imagination or not."

"Okay, new rule," Laguna said after a tense moment of silence. "If _anyone_ thinks they see something, bring it to our attention. Look at what we're dealing with here!"

Even as Laguna was talking, Squall was analyzing their surroundings. He caught movement from his left and directly in front of him, and as they passed a fork, there appeared to have been something there. A sudden realization dawned on him. "It's as if they're trying to ambush us."

"But they don't seem to be that smart," Quistis said. "They only appear to possess the knowledge of basic motor skills, like walking."

"They also follow basic needs, like hunger," Kiros said, to which Ward nodded. "Ward says that even the dumbest predators know how to surround their prey. It expends less energy, and it's easier to capture and eat them."

"Thanks for the mental picture," Rinoa shuddered. Squall mentally agreed with her.

"So what do we do?" Zell asked. "If they're planning to surround us, there's no way out except through them, right?"

"We know what they're planning," Laguna said. "If we changed direction, we'd probably run into the ones that were following us to begin with. There's not much left for us to do."

"So we continue going straight," Quistis said, to which Laguna nodded.

"We're gonna have to. The exit is just down the hall. All we need to do is get down to the first floor and then get out of the building."

"Sounds simple enough," Irvine said. "Then again, rarely anything is that simple."

"Do you have another option?" Squall asked.

"I was just pointing it out," Irvine defended.

"He likes to state the obvious," Quistis explained.

"Then let's get moving before they catch up," Zell said anxiously. "I don't know about you, but _I_ don't want to end up on their menu."

Just as Squall was about to take a step forward, they heard footsteps coming from directly in front of them. Another set of footsteps came from the left, and soon the group found themselves surrounded by walking corpses.

Everyone stood at the ready, with their weapons raised as the corpses came closer towards the group. Some of them were missing pieces of themselves; others had bite marks all over their faces and arms. One of the walking corpses was dragging itself forward, using the momentum of its arms to propel itself.

A sudden yipping caught everyone's attention, and they turned to where Quistis had jumped into Irvine, after having nearly been grabbed by a creature behind them. Selphie screamed when she spotted movement from the side, and finally, Irvine opened fire on the ones from the opposite side, when one of the corpses had tried to grab a hold of Zell.

Everyone followed Irvine's example and began firing off their weapons, aiming as close to the head as they possible could while fending off their savage attackers, bullets flying and imbedding themselves into foreheads and faces and, in some cases, into torsos.

As soon as one of the .45's clicked empty, Squall threw it into one of the creatures, who had attempted to grab him, and threw his fist forward, crashing it through the corpse's skull. After using the momentum of his foot in order to snap the neck of a second corpse, Squall immediately started treading through the masses, looking back to call attention towards him. "We don't have enough ammunition! Clear a path towards the lobby!"

Just after he had spoken the order, he had to duck due to a stray bullet which ended up flying into the eye socket of a corpse shuffling behind him. The hallway resounded with the sounds of gunshots and the moaning creatures who were trying to flank them at all sides.

Irvine fired into each of the moving monster's skull even as Squall was pulling out the 9mm from within his jacket, providing cover fire. Laguna concentrated his fire power in front of them, firing multiple rounds all at once, each bullet slamming into the body or the head of one of their attackers. Irvine and Squall were both the last out of the corridor, heading down the hall at a dead run, their path having been cleared even as more of the creatures stalked after them.

As soon as they reached the elevator, Rinoa pushed the button even as everyone was panting in exertion. Irvine and Squall rounded the corner before leaning against the wall, trying to steady their breathing as well.

"We should keep moving," Squall suggested, once he was able to form conscious words again.

"Why are we even waiting for the elevator in the first place?" Zell exclaimed. "Everyone knows that the best way down is the stairs."

"Well _sorry_ for sending the elevator up here!" Rinoa exclaimed, losing her temper. "I was sort of thinking about getting out of here alive rather than how fast it would take us."

"Calm down. _Both_ of you," Quistis said, looking down the corridor. "They're coming, but they're slow, so we should take this time to catch our breaths."

Zell shook his head in disagreement. "No, no, no, no! That's the worst thing we could possibly do."

"Zell, they walk as fast as a snail's crawl," Irvine pointed out. "I think we'll be fine for a least a minute."

"You don't get it! In the movies, you take a second to catch a breath, and you wind up dead!"

"Zell, we're not in a movie," Laguna protested.

"Doesn't matter! _Never_ underestimate those things! I don't wanna get bitten by any of those things!"

"Zell, you need to calm down," Kiros said, his arms put up in a defensive position.

"They're coming closer," Selphie warned, pointing down the hallway.

"_You_ calm down!" Zell said as Rinoa moved away from the brawler. "Dammit, this is just like that movie we watched a while ago! Don't you remember? The zombies overran the whole place and killed everyone! And when they killed someone, biting, scratching, that sorta thing, they turned into one of them! I don't know about any of you, but I refuse to eat flesh for the rest of my afterlife!"

Selphie turned to look towards Irvine, the scratches on his face apparent to the rest of the group, and Quistis, rather than try and knock some sense into the martial artist, was strangely quiet, her arms folded nervously in front of her chest. No one spoke for a moment, the only sounds predominate in the area were the slight dinging sounds that came with the elevator counting up to their floor, and the distant shuffling and moaning that was starting to sound a lot closer than what anyone was comfortable with.

Eyeing the rest of his team tentatively, Irvine removed his hat from the top of his head and ran a hand through his bangs before replacing the hat. "Maybe Zell's right. Maybe we _should_ keep movin'."

"At least someone is finally listening to me!" Zell said, throwing up his hands in exasperation as the elevator chimed, signalling that it had reached their floor. "See? The elevator is here, so let's just take it to the bottom floor, and get the fuck outta here!"

Everyone else nodded in agreement, but it was Squall who noticed the door to the elevator opening with multiple sets of hands reaching out to grab the brawler from behind. "Zell!"

Squall darted past the others just as one of the hands grabbed a hold of the blonde SeeD's sweatshirt, preparing to pull him inside. Just before this happened, however, Squall's gloved hand grabbed a hold of Zell's and the gunblader made the effort to pull as hard as he could to pull Zell away from the monsters.

Soon, he noticed that Irvine, Kiros and Laguna were assisting aid, but it didn't seem to matter as the brawler kept being dragged inside, dragging Squall and the others with him. Squall noticed that Zell's hands; the bits that weren't covered by his knuckle gloves, were caked in blood, and despite the fact that his grip was beginning to slip, he refused to let go, tightening it in an almost painful grip. As he continued to pull, the doors to the elevator suddenly began to move towards each other and Squall felt the weight being distributed differently and, against his will, he felt himself being pulled away from the martial artist, his hold beginning to loosen. He tried to tighten his hold once again, only he realized that as the grasp loosened, he was slowly being further and further pulled away. Finally, he was pulled away from the elevator, before the doors could crush him, and was forced to watch as they closed on Zell's horrified face.


	6. Back Attacked

_Zaphod Beeblebrox: Hey, Ford! How many escape capsules are there?  
__Ford Prefect: None.  
__Zaphod Beeblebrox: You counted them?  
__Ford Prefect: Twice._

* * *

Squall, Irvine and Kiros fell back onto the floor, while Laguna stepped out of the way just in time, watching as the door closed in Zell's face. Quistis and Ward immediately helped everyone up to their feet, and Selphie was frozen in shock, staring between the door and the corridor they had just emerged from. No one spoke for a moment, only listening to the slight sounds of moaning coming from within the elevator's confines, Zell's horrified screams accompanying them until they suddenly stopped, leaving the silence afterwards deafening.

Finally, in a shaking voice, Selphie broke this silence. "We should probably get moving. Those things are getting pretty close to us now."

Not even Squall could keep the panic out of his voice when he answered. "You're right. We shouldn't stay here for too much longer…"

"How can you say that?" Rinoa suddenly blurted out. "One of your friends just _died_, don't you even realize that? And you expect us to be able to just leave knowing that we're one person short of what we were?"

Squall rubbed the bridge of his nose, probably fighting off the headache that was most definitely beginning to form before he answered. "Of _course_ I don't expect us to just forget about Zell. But it won't do us any good if we stay here and just wait for them to catch up to us."

"He's right," Kiros stated, shaking his head. "Do you think Zell would want us all to die just because we were mourning his death?"

Rinoa frowned slightly, while Irvine, Selphie and Quistis all exchanged glances. This form of situation had most likely taken place before, but they still didn't appear to be used to the sudden disagreements of the new couple. He just hoped that it didn't happen too often, or else they wouldn't be going anywhere.

Looking over towards Laguna and Ward, Kiros shrugged when their eyes fell upon him. The short ranged fighter had a talent for breaking up arguments or conflicts between other people, and displayed a form of calm that was overall impossible to maintain. Very rarely did he lose his temper and this gave him an added edge during combat.

Finally, the raven-haired Sorceress nodded her consent. "I guess he wouldn't want that. I'm guessing that we take the stairs?"

"I'd say that's a good idea," Quistis nodded in agreement.

"Then what are we standing around here for?" Laguna asked. "Let's go already."

"They're just about here," Selphie pointed towards the zombies that continued on their path towards them, shuffling slowly and lethargically.

"There's stairs to the left of our location." Squall said, and it impressed the dark skinned fighter that someone was capable of navigating the confusing corridors of the Presidential Residence so quickly. "Let's go."

Even as the group began to move towards the stairs, the zombies loomed forward, seemingly dividing the group in two sets, Irvine and Squall ahead of the rest of the group. Rinoa raised her arm in front of her and gestured outwards, two sets of Firaga spells catching four of the zombies on fire. Two more zombies, who were standing behind their comrades, suddenly became engulfed within the unstable elemental.

Quistis took the time to assume her own casting stance, thrusting her arms in front of her even as Irvine and Squall began shooting from behind the monsters. The blonde fighter's eyes were closed for a moment, and just before one of the zombies could grab the former Instructor, Laguna shot a round of ammunition into the offending creature. Quistis' eyes popped open immediately afterwards and stared down at the zombie before throwing out another spell, a wave of Blizzara catching five more zombies off guard.

"Anyone thinking of casting esuna on these guys?" Laguna asked.

"They're not affected by the zombie status spell!" Quistis replied. "They're already dead!"

"Just great!" Selphie moaned, lashing out a quartet of fire spells at the creatures. "So we can't even cure them?"

"I'm afraid not."

"DUCK!"

Everyone who was surrounded by the monsters did as they were told as a ring of fire suddenly surrounded them, blasts of molten ammunition lancing around them and hitting the creatures consecutively. Looking back up, Kiros took notice of Irvine adding more ammunition into his riffle even as Squall cast a Thundaga spell upon the zombies Irvine missed.

"C'mon!" Irvine shouted, as he prepared to fire another round. "What're ya waiting for?"

"Save your ammunition!" Kiros shouted, and even as Laguna and Ward turned to look at him, Kiros continued. "Take the opportunity to run! I'll hold them off!"

"Are you insane?" Laguna shouted. "You can't take them on all by yourself!"

"I'll be alright," Kiros assured him. "Just go! I'll meet you outside, just go!"

Another wave of Irvine's Fire Ammunition burned a circle around the group, downing another group of zombies, more coming towards them. "Don't worry, I'll be okay!"

Ward nodded in silent agreement, to which Kiros understood perfectly. He quickly grabbed a hold of Laguna before he could protest further and signalled for the others to follow him.

Kiros nodded silent thanks towards his companions before turning on the creatures. Some of the zombies were following the group, even as Squall and Irvine managed to keep them at bay, while more of them began to congregate around him.

Taking in a deep breath and praying he would keep his word, Kiros removed the Katals that were strapped to the back of the Estharian robes he wore and immediately strapped them into place, just before one of the zombies grabbed a hold of his sleeve. Kiros raised his right arm and sliced the zombie's head off, watching the decapitated body fall limply to the ground with a sickening squish. Without stopping, he manoeuvred the same arm backwards, catching another zombie in the chest. Even as he did this, his left arm was jutting upwards, slashing at an oncoming enemy, breaking the creature's neck and sending it falling on top of two other zombies.

Quick and agile, Kiros continued to slash and slice into the monsters hounding him, one by one, creating a growing pile around him. More and more of the creatures took their places however, and Kiros didn't know how much longer he would be able to fight them off.

A high-pitched dinging sound came from behind him, but Kiros couldn't turn to see what it was, simply because his attention was occupied when one of the zombies who remained charged towards him, his mouth open to reveal blackened stubs that used to be his teeth. The dark-skinned fighter cut at the undead creatures eyes, stopping the assault as the creature fell forward.

Kiros sighed in relief and was just about to follow the rest of his companions when something heavy came crashing down onto his back, forcing him towards the ground. Kiros both heard and felt a crack, resisting the urge to cry out in pain of his broken wrist. Just after he heard the sound, he felt pain jabbing at his chest and, looking down, he realized that one of his Katals had snapped in two, and a shard of metal had collided with his side. It was an injury that he would survive, but it would prove to be an inconvenience.

Finally, Kiros felt pain lapse through his shoulder and this time he couldn't hold back the scream of pain as he felt teeth digging into skin and muscle. Turning his head marginally, he was surprised to see that the one who was biting him happened to be Zell.

Zell lifted his head before turning to gaze hungrily at the fighter, and with a sinking heart, Kiros realized what had happened.

The brawler was already dead.

Zell's eyes were milky rather than the blue he had ordinarily possessed, his teeth reduced to blackened stubs and his skin was a pale white. There were bite marks cascading throughout his body, and his left arm was barely hanging on a piece of skin that it was attached to. Dried, coagulated blood lay atop of his bruised and battered form, but fresh blood sat upon his mouth from when he had bitten Kiros.

Kiros couldn't move. His own weight was on top of his right arm, and he couldn't balance his weight on his broken wrist. Zell's weight was positioned on top of him, keeping his left arm still and useless. Even as he tried to push the teenager's body off of him with his right arm only, two more zombies fell on top of Zell, adding to the weight and forcing his arm back onto the ground. He was trapped.

Another lance of pain went through him as he felt something bite his left leg, and then another as another bite was aimed at his calf. Zell bit down on his neck once again while another zombie bit through his right foot. As he fought through the haze of pain, his last thoughts before blacking out were his apologies to both Laguna and Ward for breaking his word.

* * *

Irvine and Squall were a few feet ahead of the others when they noticed Ward signal to them to keep moving. Even as the zombies continued to chase after them, shuffling closer towards them, both broke off their attacks, both magical based and long ranged, and darted down the hallway towards the stairs. The assuring footsteps that told them the others were following not too far behind was the only thing keeping them from going back to check up on them.

They finally arrived at the entrance to the stair well and Irvine blasted the door open, watching as it flew off its handles and fell a few feet before them onto the steel flooring beneath them.

"Downstairs, downstairs." He heard Squall tell him from behind. Even though he knew how blatantly obvious his friend was being, he decided to shelve the sarcasm and do with the elder boy said. He ran down the stairs as fast as his legs could move, the only sounds breaking the silence were the pounding sounds of bootclad feet hitting steel and their heavy breathing. He heard Squall's steel-toed boots following him and was especially relieved that he wasn't the only one in the stairwell as they turned the corner, heading further down towards the first floor landing.

Suddenly, he felt Squall grab him by the back of his beige trench coat and pull him backwards, shushing him when he went to protest. "Listen," he said.

Irvine frowned when he couldn't hear anything at first, but chose to listen anyway. A sudden loud moan caught his attention, causing him to tense up as he recognized the sound. A moment later, he saw shadows flickering in front of them, growing longer and larger as the seconds ticked by.

After turning around and seeing the colour drain from the SeeD's normally neutral face, he knew that Squall had seen it too.

"Upstairs, upstairs!" Irvine shouted as he and Squall both bolted back the way they had come from. Looking behind him, Irvine realized that the zombies were catching up, despite their lethargic movements, and fired a couple of rounds from the USP45, never pausing in his movements.

As they reached the floor they had been previously on, Irvine knew that the rounds he had set off caught everyone's attention. "Go upstairs!" Squall shouted.

"Are you crazy?" Selphie shouted back at him, but before she could say anything else, Irvine turned back to see the zombies turning the corner and moving towards their current location. Turning back to Selphie, he saw her gulp as she and everyone else moved up the stairs, the cowboy not far.

Irvine had to duck as the pinwheel flew over his head and decapitated a zombie before returning to Rinoa's arm. Even when this was happening, Selphie and Quistis were shooting off fire and blizzard elemental spells in hopes of slowing them down. Seeing as they were still catching up to them, Irvine figured that it was a vain attempt.

Finally, they reached another door and, unlike Irvine's previous actions, Laguna quickly turned the door handle and pushed it open, everyone following through the entrance way. Squall stayed at the door, holding it open for everyone else as they piled through it.

Irvine's hat flew off of his head, flying straight towards the zombies who cluttered the cramped space and, before he could even begin to debate whether or not he should go retrieve it, Selphie grabbed a hold of his arms and began to the task of dragging him back.

"Darlin'! My hat!"

"Forget the stupid hat!" Selphie grounded out in clenched teeth as she struggled to pull Irvine towards the door. A moment later, another pair of hands started dragging him, and Irvine looked up to see Squall, who had abandoned his position at the door in order to help the Galbadian Sharpshooter.

Taking one final glance at his trusty hat, Irvine stifled a groan as he followed his team-mates back towards the door, closing and locking it tightly behind them. Irvine slid down against the wall, panting heavily as Selphie knelt down beside him, gasping for breath. The rest of the group was in the same condition; out of breath and trying to get a gasp of oxygen before they began the process of escaping the zombie-infested building.

"Well…" Rinoa said, having been the first to catch her breath. "The stairs don't seem to work very well, either…"

"Better than the elevator, at least," Selphie said through gasps of breath, and winced as the memory of Zell's death was still fresh.

"Where's Kiros?" Squall asked, and Irvine scanned the area, noticing that the former Galbadian Soldier was nowhere to be seen.

"He stayed behind," Laguna said, his gaze resting on the floor. "He said he'd distract those things while we got out, and that he'd catch up to us."

Ward made a facial expression and Laguna, who understood what it was he was trying to say, nodded to him. "Ward says he'll be alright. And I agree with him. As much as I don't like the idea of leaving him behind, Kiros has gotten outta worse scrapes than this before."

There was silence as everyone took in the President's words. As Irvine took a look around, he noticed the disbelieving expressions on everyone's faces and knew that the words meant little to them. Not even Ultimecia had been this bad. There had been one of her, and she wasn't dead and walking around biting and scratching people.

Reaching up to his face, he traced the scratches he'd received from the monsters and wondered briefly if Zell was right about what they did. He definitely didn't revel the idea of turning into one of those biting things. Thinking back on it though, he shrugged it off as bullshit. Zell was gullible. He'd believe anything you told him just as long as you sounded serious. That was how he had been able to get to the brawler in the past. Even though he wished he had been a little nicer to the elder fighter now, he didn't believe a lot of the things that came out of his mouth at times.

"So…" Quistis asked after a moment of tense silence. "What now?"

The sudden sound of shattering glass broke everyone's attention and Irvine looked up to see a zombie arm wrapping around Squall's neck. He had been standing at the door, just in case those things tried to break it open and, while it was normally a good idea, there was a glass window near the top of the door. When the arm smashed through the glass, it had broken it as it reached to grab the first thing it could.

Immediately, Irvine raced forward, trying to pry the hand off the SeeD's neck while Selphie jumped up and, pulling out one of the backup knives she was given earlier, began the task of cutting through it. Quistis immediately fell to Irvine's side, trying to pry the fingers away from Squall's neck before any damage could be done and Rinoa quickly assisted Selphie in trying to cut the arm off.

Irvine had just removed the thumb and index finger from around Squall's neck, and gestured for Quistis to help the girls cut the arm. Ward had already made his move, immediately grabbing a shard of glass and trying to cut the arm, even as Quistis joined the fray.

The middle finger had been moved.

Squall raised his right arm and reached for one of his firearms, his left arm pinned against the door. The zombie reached it's head forward and prepared the bite the teenager when a bullet whizzed passed Squall's head and imbedded itself into the forehead of the zombie. It fell limp against the door, but barely a second later, three more arms replaced it, grabbed a hold of the SeeD's collar, as if preparing to pull him in through the window.

Irvine pried the last two fingers off of Squall's throat and pulled it back. The four who were breaking through the creature's skin halted their attempts and pulled the limb out of range as well before all of them grabbed a hold of Squall, trying to keep him away from the onslaught of monsters, with Laguna coming over to help them pull.

Irvine noticed that, once he was no longer pressed up against the door, Squall had pulled his arms into his jacket and, a moment later, all seven of them fell away from the door, while Squall's black beater jacket was pulled into the stairwell, the suddenly loss of weight forcing the zombies to fall backwards.

Everyone was gasping for breath at the close call. Squall reached up to his throat to see if anything was missing, and Irvine mentally commended Squall on his luck. There wasn't a single scratch on him from where the zombies had all grabbed a hold of him.

"Is everyone alright?" Laguna asked, over the moaning sounds of the zombies. Hands had suddenly returned to the window as more zombies began to push their way towards them.

"Shit." Squall cursed, rising to his feet. "They got my jacket…"

"Forget the stupid jacket," Irvine muttered, rising to his own feet.

Instead of simply agreeing however, Squall met Irvine with a level glare. "My throwing knives and ammunition were all in that 'stupid jacket'."

There was silence as it suddenly began to sink in. Without ammunition, it was only a matter of time before their long ranged weapons fell empty. The knives were infinite when used in close quarter fights, but they were very limited in the assortment when they were used as flying projectiles. Soon, they would end up with nothing to protect them, except their hands and feet, and given the fact that the monsters were biters and scratchers, Irvine wouldn't blame anyone for not wanting to be a martial artist.

Irvine was horrible in close ranged quarters, which was why he took up the riffle. You point, you pull, and you breathe; nothing simpler than that. Thus another reason why Irvine and Zell didn't quite see eye to eye; Zell was all for jumping into a crowd and kicking the crap out of them with his fists, while Irvine preferred the more subtle approach; shoot 'em from afar.

"We should keep moving," Squall's voice broke through the sharpshooter's thoughts. "That door won't hold for very much longer."

There was no argument as they began walking throughout the quiet corridors.


	7. Every Dog Has it's Day

_If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong.  
_- Murphy's Forth Law

* * *

It was then that Irvine realized something important. He hated the quiet.

It was too nerve racking compared to the normal hustle and bustle that the halls would be filled with during the day and, sometimes, during the night. Something could jump out of nowhere and you wouldn't see it coming.

Of course, he still preferred the silence to the sound of those zombies moaning.

As they passed by a window, Irvine could plainly see that it was night. The sun had finished falling beneath the horizon, but there was no moon. According to the moon's cycle, they were supposed to have a new moon that night, where the sky seemingly did not have one. Normally, he wouldn't think much of it, but now, he thought it was damned creepy.

He wondered vaguely what time it was as everyone turned the corridor, looking for another set of stairs that weren't infested with the walking undead. He hoped that they'd be able to head down the stairs rather than up this time. He felt like he was in a cliché horror flick where the damsel in distress made the dumbass move of running up the stairs.

Zell had been obsessed with horror movies while he had been alive. Any horror movie that was named, Irvine would confidently bet money that Zell had watched it. While not being that into the movies, Irvine did love to watch them once in a while. Sometimes the plot interested him, other times he would rather fall asleep. The only thing that made them worth the while was the women who had conveniently forgotten to put on a bra, or if he were watching one with a lady sitting next to him.

Zombie flicks hadn't actually caught his attention. He preferred mummies or vampires to walking undead any day, saying that they were definitely scarier. Now, he could say without any doubt in his mind that Zombies ranked a higher level of ferocity in his head.

He was currently at the very back, just in case he needed to turn around and start shooting, while Laguna had taken point. Since he was the only short ranged fighter left, Squall was positioned in the very center, with Rinoa and Selphie behind and in front of him respectively. Ward was closely following Laguna and Quistis was in front of Irvine.

As much as Irvine hoped against it, he had to admit that the chances of Kiros returning to them alive were slim at best. He didn't want to say anything though, for Ward and Laguna's sake. The three of them had been friends for far longer than most people ever were, and he wanted the remaining two to have some hope of their friend coming back to them, even if it was false hope.

"Irvine…"

The voice startled the sharpshooter out of his thoughts before he realized that it had been Quistis who had spoken. Looking around, he noticed that no one else seemed to have heard her, and figured that it was because she hadn't wanted them to.

This thought intrigued him. Quistis didn't normally talk to him, mainly because of all the flirting he had done with her in the past. Out of all the girls he had known, Quistis had been the first to ignore his advances. Rinoa was the second, but at the time he had already known she wanted to get Squall's attention and, although Quistis had felt the same, he doubted that she would have given him the time of day even if she hadn't been. Knowing that she was trying to talk to him now stood out in his head and he figured he'd catalogue it under 'one of the things that will most likely only happen if there was threat of imminent death'.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, he lowered his voice so that the others wouldn't hear him. "What is it? Finally decided to give the stud the time of day?"

Normally, Quistis would have said something along the lines of 'Knock it off, Irvine'. However, Quistis didn't comment on his flirting, and this had the sharpshooter worried. Instead, she slowed down so that they were walking side by side, both to keep an eye on the rest just in case they heard her as well as to make sure Irvine did hear her. "How long ago did you get scratched?"

Irvine blinked. No one had actually even asked him that. Selphie had appeared as though she wanted to , especially after Zell had mentioned the psycho babble theory of becoming one of them, but he wondered why Quistis was so anxious to know. Shrugging, he decided to answer her. "Durin' the dinner rush. One of those things attacked me." He decided to leave out the part where he had tried to flirt with her first. "You'd think that someone who works in the Estharian Residence would shorten her nails, wouldn't ya?"

She took no humour to the comment, which wasn't surprising at all. Instead, Quistis simply nodded. Silence fell between the pair before Irvine decided he wanted to know why she had asked in the first place.

Quistis beat him to the punch before he could form syllables. "I was bitten during sunset."

He stared at her agape before giving her a once over. She was dressed casually for a change, in a pair of black kakis, a pink tank top and an off-white sweater. The only thing that she was wearing that was constant was her black boots that reached up to the knee. Her hair was in a dishevelled ponytail, but it didn't even look like she cared.

There didn't appear to be anything out of the ordinary on the eighteen year old, but he suddenly took notices of a white bandage sitting just below the sleeve of the sweater.

Quistis, however, didn't notice his visual inspection as she continued her explanation. "I was studying for the Instructor's Examination when one of the Presidential Aids came into my room. At first, I thought he was being rude when he didn't answer me, then I thought he might have gotten sick. The next thing I know, he bites me on the arm and then tries to bite me on my neck. I broke his neck in self defence.

"I figured that I would go to the infirmary to get it looked at, since the bite was so big, but then I ran into more of them, and Rinoa. By the time we'd left to warn Squall, the bite had slipped my mind."

Irvine nodded in understanding. At that time, they hadn't known what was happening, so there was no real reason for her to suspect that they were zombies.

The former instructor sighed before speaking once again. "Do you think that Zell was wrong before? When he told us what those things could do? That if we got scratched or bitten, that we'd…"

"Quistis, I'm amazed at you," Irvine said, shaking his head. "You actually believe Zell Dincht, of all people? He's just been watching way too many horror flicks. It ain't healthy."

"But a lot of what's happened is from that movie we watched, isn't it?" Quistis asked. "A virus that restores cellular structure, and re-animates the dead? The people who are infected – the ones who died – coming back to life and suddenly biting and scratching everything within sight, only moving forward on the simplest of instincts? Not even stopping or feeling any pain when it's been inflicted upon them?"

"Look Quistis," Irvine said, even though a lot of what she was saying did make sense. "Zell believed me when I told him that a mass murderer was hiding in his closet, getting ready to kill SeeDs, and that was when I was drunk. I probably didn't sound too convincing, and he _still_ believed me. Like I said, he watched too many horror movies and it rotted his brain. I don't mean to talk disrespectfully of the dead," a pang of guilt hit him when he reminded himself of this fact. "but those are the facts. Zell was gullible. He'd believe anything anyone'd say, just so long as it wasn't coming from Seifer. We'll be fine. Just need to get it checked out is all."

Quistis nodded, however she didn't appear to be all that convinced. Still, he could see that her spirits had been lifted, and that made him feel a lot better. "Glad to see you're feeling better, darlin'. It always pains me to see a damsel who's depressed."

"Knock it off, Irvine," Quistis said flatly as she moved back to her position, ahead of the sharpshooter, rolling her eyes as she did.

Irvine grinned. Yep, she's definitely back to normal

* * *

After nearly an hour of walking through the desolate hallway of the third floor, they finally managed to secure a vacant stairwell. The only problem was that there were no stairs leading to the lower level, so the only option was to head up the stairs once again. Selphie had suggested that, once they reached a higher floor, they could circle back to a stairwell that did lead to the first floor and everyone had agreed, since there weren't any better suggestions.

Unfortunately, as they scaled the stairs leading up, their path was blocked by a roaming zombie, mindlessly drifting by. Rather than kill it and divert attention towards them, the group figured that it would be better to slink past, forcing them to scale higher than they wanted to. After three flights of stairs, they found a clear pathway through the door leading out onto the sixth floor and passed through it.

After Quistis had spoken to him, Irvine had begun to wonder whether or not Zell's warning was, in fact, verified. He knew that there was only one way to find out, but he didn't revel in the idea of dying just so the question would be answered, nor did he feel it fair for Quistis to die for the same reason. Instead, he tried not to think about what could happen in the event the brawler had been right.

The formation had not changed since they had begun moving from the original stairwell, and no one spoke for the duration of the trip. Weapons were held at the ready, despite their depleting ammunition, as they kept an eye out for their undead attackers.

Finally, having had enough of the silence, Irvine heard Selphie take a breath before speaking. "You know, I just thought of something."

"What is it?" Squall asked.

"Well, do you remember in the movie that there were other things besides the zombie people to worry about?"

"Like what?" Laguna asked from his position. The echo resounding through the hallway, it was easy to hear what the Trabian SeeD had said.

"Well, there were these large monster things that Zell had called Lickers," Selphie explained. "They were almost human like, but they didn't have any eyes, and their tongues stretched to approximately three to four feet ahead of them. According to Zell, they were also razor sharp. They crawled on the walls and ceilings and everything."

"Great…" Quistis muttered. "I definitely don't want to run into one of those things."

"Me neither," Irvine commented, shivering as he did. He had also recalled that, in the sequel, a group of people had been attacked by three of those suckers.

"We can't forget about the dogs either," Selphie said.

"Dogs?" Rinoa whimpered, with Angelo walking closely beside her.

"Yeah, don't you remember? They were dogs that had been tested in the laboratories, but because of the virus in the movie, they ended up dying and their skin was falling off and everything. It looked really gross." Selphie shivered at the reminder. "They're faster than the people zombies are, but not as fast as the Lickers."

"Well you'll be happy to know that we don't allow animal testing in the facility, or anywhere in Esthar," Laguna stated, somewhat proud of this fact.

"Thank Hyne…" Squall muttered under his breath.

"Although there are places where the soldiers used to train…" Laguna trailed off as he paled. Even Irvine could tell from where he was positioned the change in the elder man's colouring.

There was silence following that remark before Laguna gulped audibly and finished his sentence. "…Dogs."

"Why not?" Quistis said, throwing her arms up into the air. "We've been through everything else, why not zombie dogs?" Folding her arms across her chest, she frowned deeply. "Like this day…"

"Don't say it," Rinoa suddenly burst out, stopping and stalking towards the blonde SeeD.

Quistis blinked, startled by the action as everyone else stopped walking. "Don't say what?"

"Don't say 'This day can't get any worse'!" Rinoa clarified. "If you do, then things won't get anything _but_ worse."

Rubbing the bridge of her nose, Quistis sighed loudly. "Rinoa, that's just a silly superstition."

"Oh yeah?" Rinoa asked, getting into the former Instructor's face. "When we were in Deling City, just before we got arrested, we were losing the fight against the Sorceress. We didn't think things could get any worse then, and what happen? Squall got skewered by an ice spear and nearly died! So don't tell me that it's nothing but a silly superstition!"

Once again silence enveloped the group in its grasp before it was finally broken. "Squall got what?" Laguna asked, sounding completely lost.

Allowing his face to drop into his hand, Squall rubbed the bridge of his nose before looking back up at the others. "Nothing is going to come out of arguing, so I suggest we keep moving."

Everyone exchanged glances with one another but dared not to argue. They knew that he was right, and that the noise would undoubtedly attract unwanted attention.

Just before they made a move however, they heard something up ahead. Something that sounded distinctively like paws hitting the solid ground beneath an animal's feet. All eyes turned to Angelo, who stood staring at the group, her tail wagging as she stared back at them.

"If that's not coming from Angelo…" Quistis started.

"Then where's it coming from?" Selphie finished.

No one answered the question. Irvine figured that it was because no one wanted to.

"Here's a thought, Selphie," Laguna said. "If you have any more thoughts that may turn the situation worse for us, kindly keep them to yourself."

Selphie gulped and nodded timidly.

The padding footsteps suddenly grew in sound, and soon it sounded as though more were joining in its wake. Slowly, Squall turned to look to Laguna. "What floor did you say those training exercises took place?"

"A couple of floors above where we are now."

Everyone turned to stare at Laguna. Even Ward was staring at him, despite the fact that he should have known this information as well.

"Well, you never asked," Laguna defended himself.

Before anyone could move however, the sound was finally matched by a distinct creature turning the corner and no one could hold back their shocked expressions. Irvine couldn't blame them.

You didn't need to be a brain surgeon to know that the dog was dead.

It had been a Doberman while it had been alive, and still sort of resembled one. The only problem was that blood was caked all around it, making its normally black coat appear dark red. Half of its throat was missing and it had an abnormally large gash on its side.

It stared at them, and they stared at it.

Then it charged.

As soon as the dog got within leaping distance, everyone dodged to the side in a frozen sense of panic and shock. The dog gracefully landed on its feet before whirling around, growling and baring its darkened teeth at them before charging again.

At this point, all shock had disappeared and was replaced with the logic that told them to run.

As they darted down the hallway, Irvine looked back to see the dog gaining momentum, catching up to them as if it were nothing. Selphie had been right; those fuckers were fast.

Once again, everyone dodged, the dog skidding to a halt before leering at each and every one of them, growling as it did.

Angelo growled back and charged towards the other canine, despite Rinoa's protests, biting her enemy in the side. The monster dog didn't even register the pain as it backed up and spun towards the still living dog. Angelo wisely chose to back up, her teeth still bared, even as the zombie advanced, licking its lips as it did.

Laguna had barely enough time to scoop the dog up and jump out of the pathway, barely avoiding being bitten on the leg, returning the breathing animal to her owner.

Just as the zombie dog was about to attack once again, two shots stopped it in its tracks, having been aimed in front of the animal. Irvine fired another round from his 45 LDA, directing his attention towards the others. "It's just one dog! I can take him!"

"We're not leaving anyone else behind," Squall shouted back.

"It's just one dog! I'll be there in a sec! Just go already!"

"The hell we are!" Selphie stated, holding her ground.

Irvine was about to protest when the dog suddenly lunged at him, tackling him just as he was able to twist his body and forcing him to fall onto his back. The Galbadian Sharpshooter grabbed a hold of the dogs mouth and held it wide open, to prevent his face from being torn off. "Dammit, I said I'll be okay! Now move it!"

"He's right!" Laguna said. "We need to hurry before all of this racket attracts more attention!"

"NO!" Selphie shouted stubbornly. "I won't leave him."

"Selphie, just go!" Irvine said as he fought off the dog. "I love you too much to let anything happen to you."

Selphie was about to retort but she was struck shocked by the admission. Ward took this opportunity to easily pluck the tiny SeeD up and carry her, firefighter style, over his shoulder as he and Laguna darted off towards the left. Quistis and Rinoa headed through another entranceway with Angelo in toe, probably locating a secret stairwell as Squall, albeit hesitantly darted straight down the hallway in front of them.

Irvine cursed as he lost sight of the others. The last thing anyone wanted to do was to split up, and yet that was just what everyone else did. They probably hadn't thought much of it, but in the end it was going to do them far more harm than good.

Finally, Irvine managed to break the hell-beasts neck and pushed the corpse off him as he rose to his feet. Feeling pain in his chest, he suddenly realized that the dog had managed to scratch him further during the struggle, but that was the least of his problems. Looking at his reflecting through the windowed door that Quistis and Rinoa had gone through he noted his paling features. His hair had also fallen out of the ponytail he had set up, and was sitting in his face along with his bangs that stuck to his forehead, some of the long strands sitting in a tangled heap over his shoulders as the rest of it fell down onto his back. He also wasn't feeling all that great.

Cursing his luck, he refused to admit that there was a possibility that Zell had been right. There was no way that he was turning into one of those flesh eating monsters, and there was definitely no way that he was going to join those said monsters in making a feast out of the rest of his friends.

He was just about to follow the path that Squall had taken in order to catch up to him when growling from behind caught his attention. As he turned around to look, he lost all control of his body to the fear and panic that had been building up for hours now.

There was a whole pack of dogs staring back at him.

One was missing an ear.

Two had lost half their faces.

One was missing its tail.

One had at least two broken bones.

"Oh shit."

He knew then and there that he wasn't going to make it.

Even as he pulled out the USP and his remaining 45 LDA still sitting in his pockets and began firing at the creatures, he knew that he was going to die where he stood. But he would be damned if he didn't go down fighting.

The last thoughts that ran through Irvine's head as the five dogs attacked was that Rinoa had been right. If you say something can't get any worse, it usually does.


	8. The Virus

_Knowledge is power.  
_- Thomas Hobbes

* * *

After Quistis had made her way down the stairs, she had run down the hallway of the fourth floor, turning the corner and stopping to catch her breath. Even as she took in gulps of air that her lungs had been deprived of during her sprint, the former instructor mentally vowed never to use that phrase ever again. Rinoa had been right stating that things usually got worse when you didn't think they would.

Straightening up, she looked around, expecting the rest of the group to have caught up by now, but was disappointed when there was no one around her. The last she remembered seeing of everyone had been when Irvine had been tackled by the dead dog above, but she didn't think they would have stayed behind for that, despite wanting to help the sharpshooter.

Her arm suddenly ached from where she had been bitten and the blonde SeeD gripped it in a vain attempt to stop the pain. Shutting her eyes tightly and gritting her teeth, she took in shallow breaths to control her breathing and soon, the pain subsided, leaving only a memory of its occurrence. Frowning to herself, she realized that, if she wanted to prevent the bite from becoming infected then she would have to head to the infirmary as soon as possible.

Thinking about it, she realized that if Zell had been correct then it would be pointless to treat the wound, as the damage would have been done already. Irvine had seemed sure that Zell had watched one too many movies, but Quistis wasn't completely convinced. So far, they had encountered dead people who had become reanimated as well as dogs who had suffered the same fate. The hallways were practically deserted and now everyone had split up from one another.

Besides, taking Zell's explanation out of the equation, there was no answer to what had happened to the people in the building.

Turning the corner to see if anyone else had followed her, she suddenly took in the familiar sight of a raven haired teenager dressed in black, accompanied by her collie dog. She would have never felt as much relief seeing the girl as she did at that moment.

It was true that Quistis and Rinoa both clashed at the best of times, but despite all of that, the former Instructor wished no harm on the resistance member, and was grateful to her for accomplishing something that most people could never even brush the surface of. While Squall was still very much withdrawn into himself, he was at least beginning to express himself more freely than he had ever done in his life. It was something Quistis had failed at and, despite her obvious dislike of the circumstances behind it; it was definitely an accomplishment that she would have taken in any way, even if she wasn't the one responsible for it.

Quistis approached the girl and, upon hearing footsteps coming behind her, Rinoa turned around, staring at the woman. Quistis slowed her movements as she came to stand a mere few feet away from the younger girl.

"Quistis?" Rinoa asked uncertainly and Quistis nodded in answer.

"Oh my god…" Rinoa suddenly collapsed onto the ground, her head buried in her hands, Angelo standing next to her appearing curious. Quistis bent down next to the girl as she sobbed openly. "What are we supposed to do? How are we supposed to get out of here with those _things_ coming after us?"

Rinoa had a point. It seemed as though no matter where they went, those zombies were always in the way. It was almost as though they were herding them to a certain place within the building. But that wasn't possible. They no longer possessed the brain capacity to come up with an intricate plot like that. All they did was roam around, feeding on each other and anything that crossed their paths.

Shaking her head of such thoughts, Quistis chose not to voice her own opinions and instead comfort the girl next to her. "Rinoa, it's okay to be scared, but we'll make it out with everyone. It's going to be okay…"

"No, it's not going to be okay!" Rinoa suddenly burst out, turning baleful red eyes towards the elder girl. "We've already lost Zell, Kiros is probably gone too, and who knows if Irvine'll be alright! We left him behind! _We left him behind_! Everyone else just suddenly disappeared and we have no idea _where_ they are, or _whether_ they're okay or not!"

Before Quistis could get a word in edge wise, Rinoa continued her rant, tears suddenly streaming from her eyes. "Of _course_ I'm not going to be scared! I'm downright terrified! And you can't tell me that _you're_ not because _you're_ white in the face!"

Quistis had hoped to hide her own fear and anxiety from the petrified girl, but with that exclamation she knew that her attempt had failed. Rather than lose her temper however, the blonde woman grabbed either of Rinoa's shoulders before the girl could collapse into herself again. "Rinoa, you need to calm down…"

"You fucking calm down!" Rinoa yelled, tears streaming down her face. She looked on the verge of a breakdown. "I've had enough!"

Although the pain set in almost immediately, Quistis raised her right hand and slapped Rinoa square across the face, shocking her out of her hysterical state. As soon as Rinoa quieted, Quistis forced her to look at her. "I know it's terrifying and you're right, I am scared. But we can't let panic overwhelm our senses. Those things are still out there, and we need to do our best to keep moving. We can't stay in one place for too long, or they'll catch up to us."

As if to agree with her, the sound of moaning resonated towards them, and both girls exchanged horrified glances. "By the sounds of it, they're nearly here. We need to hurry and get out of here."

Rinoa nodded numbly before rising to her feet and following after the instructor. After a second though, Quistis heard a slight whimper and something falling onto the ground before turning around to see Rinoa crouching over Angelo, who was lying on her side, tongue hanging out. Quistis turned back around, just as the moaning grew louder. "Rinoa, we don't have time! We have to go!"

"I'm not leaving Angelo." Rinoa said stubbornly, looking over the collie for any sign of what was ailing her.

"Dammit Rinoa, we need to leave."

"Too many people have died already," Rinoa continued, not even looking up at Quistis. "I'm not losing my dog either."

Running her hands through her hair, Quistis was about ready to scream in frustration. Rinoa had a stubborn streak that had a tendency to land her in trouble and now was not the time for her to execute that tendency. She was just about to point out the direty of the situation when she suddenly caught sight of something that made her lose whatever colouring she had left. Along Angelo's leg was a small scratch, and it was still bleeding lightly.

She must have been scratched by that dog… Quistis thought to herself dumbly. Which means…

Despite her disbelief of Zell's warning before he had fallen to his fate, Quistis was adamant that she was not about to take any chances and gamble with her life.

"Rinoa…" Quistis said in a shaky voice, trying to control her panic. "Get away from Angelo."

"You want me to do _what_?" Rinoa glared at the former instructor, her eyes ablaze in anger. "You want me to leave the only friend has been there for me? Are you _insane_?"

"I don't have time to explain. Just… get away from Angelo."

"I don't know what your problem is, but I'm staying with Angelo, and that's final! I can't move her, not if she broke something…"

"Angelo didn't break anything!" Quistis shouted before lowering her voice once more. "Look, we need to leave…"

"That's what you keep saying, but you don't understand! Have you ever had a parent die, only to have nothing for you to remember them by? Have you?"

The remark was a low blow, since Quistis had been raised in an orphanage. She didn't even remember what her parents looked like let alone how they had meant to her. But she understood the feelings behind the words. Rinoa believed that all she had left of her mother's memory was Angelo and, despite the possible end of the world scenario, she wasn't budging.

It didn't stop the words from stinging, however.

"Well I have!" Rinoa continued, oblivious to what it was she had just said. "My mother died when I was five years old and my father wouldn't look at me the same after that until he could barely stand to look at me at all, just because I look so Hyne-damned much like her! I had to put up with that for the next ten years before I finally got Angelo as a birthday present from Zone and Watts! So I dare you to tell me to leave my best friend behind, Quistis! I _fucking_ dare you!"

Before Quistis could even respond, Angelo's breathing suddenly stopped and Rinoa's expression shifted from anger to excruciating pain. She clung onto Angelo tightly, her arms wrapped around the dog's middle and rested her face against the fur, sobbing hysterically.

As much as Quistis felt terrible for what had befallen the faithful collie, Angelo's death only increased her own fear. "Rinoa, I'm serious. We have to leave."

Rinoa didn't respond, only continuing to cry in the animal's fur.

Clenching and unclenching her fists, Quistis tried desperately to ignore the moaning creatures that were closing in on their location. She wanted to allow Rinoa the time she needed to grieve but their lives were in danger if they stayed any longer.

Just as she had resolved to just grab the hysterical girl and drag her with her down the hallway, she stopped in her movement as shock and fear took over.

Angelo's eyes popped open.

In the moment it took for Quistis to regain her senses, Angelo moved her head around and bit Rinoa in the throat, shocking the girl and snapping her back into reality. After a moment, Angelo pulled back, ripping out her victim's throat before releasing her grip, allowing Rinoa's body to drop roughly onto the floor beneath her.

Quistis' breathing quickened as soon as her mind registered the grisly sight. Rinoa hadn't even had a chance to scream when she'd been attacked. One second, the owner was grieving the deceased pet and the next, the owner had been killed by the deceased pet. She was positive that, had she blinked, she would have missed the entire exchange.

Angelo sniffed around her surroundings before suddenly whirling around and catching sight of Quistis.

Quistis stared at Angelo.

Angelo stared at Quistis.

As soon as Angelo's teeth were barred, the SeeD regained both her senses as well as control over her body and ran down the hallway, the opposite direction from where Angelo had been.

* * *

"Let go! Let go of me!"

Selphie continued to squirm in Ward's grasp, having finally snapped out of the trance she had fallen into. She kicked and pounded the back of the gentle giant's back in a vain attempt to escape.

If Ward had felt any of her attacks, he wasn't letting on.

The last thing she had recalled before falling into shock had been Irvine's words to her. The next thing she knew, she was being carted down a hallway, Sir Laguna in front while Ward held up the rear.

She hadn't seen anyone else with them.

"We have to go back!" Selphie shouted. "We have to help Irvy! We have to find everyone else!"

Ward didn't say a thing, but judging from the look on his face, Selphie knew he wanted to say something. Due to the injury he had sustained in his throat during his army days, Ward had lost the ability to speak. She had no idea whether or not he had learned sign language there-after, but Kiros and Sir Laguna were able to understand exactly what it was he was trying to say just by looking at him.

Selphie wondered if she would be able to do that with her friends if something like that happened.

Finally, Laguna looked behind him and, upon seeing the expression on Ward's face, Laguna nodded before directing his gaze onto Selphie. "He says 'I don't like leaving Irvine behind either, but we can't go back now, especially with those dogs up there'."

"But what if Irvy survives? What if he's in trouble and needs our help? I said let me go!"

"Ward says 'I'll let you down when I know you won't try to go back'."

Folding her arms across her chest, Selphie pouted. "Big meanie…"

It was then that Laguna had stopped walking and turned around to face the two of them. "We can't go back the way we came because of the risks. I agree with you that the others'll need our help, but how much help are we going to be if we get eaten by those zombies? None, right?"

Selphie frowned, but nodded in agreement.

"We'll find them. Nothing bad'll happen to them, we're all trained, right? They know how to survive."

Selphie wasn't the least bit convinced that they would be alright, but she knew that they did know how to fight back if necessary. She nodded her head in response. "I guess you're right. But if we split up, doesn't that make things worse?"

Laguna appeared thoughtful for a moment before answering. "From my experiences, it's bad for our side, but it's also an advantage. See, if we're all split up, then it makes it harder for the enemy to surround us, so it's near impossible to catch everyone, right?"

"But it weakens our attack and defensive power," Selphie pointed out.

"Right. It's like a double edge sword," Laguna explained. "We just have to careful, is all. And hope that we'll meet up with the others soon."

A moment of silence passed the trio before Ward made another facial expression. Laguna laughed lightly before turning to address Selphie. "Ward asks, 'can I put you down now without worrying about you running away?'"

Selphie sighed before nodding. It wasn't a good idea to go wandering off by herself anyway, especially given the circumstances.

As Ward released his grip on the tiny SeeD, Laguna returned to facing ahead of them, searching with his eyes in case the zombies jumped out in front of them before the trio continued walking. "Besides," he said, after a minute. "Irvine wouldn't have wanted you to stay behind, since you weren't infected."

"Sir Laguna, you don't actually believe that, do you?" Selphie asked. "I mean, Zell was bullshitting, like he always does."

"You didn't seem to think that when you told us about the dogs."

Selphie sighed. "It's more likely that whatever happened to these people happened to the dogs. Being scratched or bitten won't turn you into a zombie. That's something that can only be found in those movies Zell rotted his brain with."

"Well, right now, all we have to work with are those movies."

Frowning slightly, Selphie allowed the subject to drop altogether, allowing her thoughts to drift onto Irvine and the last words he had said to her. He was a flirt by nature, which could have meant anything, but he hadn't said it to Quistis or Rinoa as well. Selphie was a strong believer that, once someone was on their death bed the truth would come out by instinct.

Which meant that, if those words were true, then Irvine loved her.

But that didn't explain why he flirted with other girls all the time.

Scepticism spreading, Selphie folded her arms across her chest, trying to keep warm and resolved to get her answer when they found Irvine. It was starting to dawn on her that, despite it being summertime in Esthar, wearing a short yellow sundress wasn't exactly the smartest idea.

Their wandering led them inside of a sparse office room. Computer terminals and desks were aligned all along the edge of the room before curving around and ending on their left, forming a U shape. The window behind the terminals provided a breathtaking view and was slanted as though the ceiling were longer than the floor beneath their feet.

The desks were empty, the computers smashed and broken seemingly beyond repair, and the glowing lights in the floor that would have given them a means to contact the others were grey instead of blue, indicating that they were not operational.

"Well," Selphie said, breaking the silence. "if we wanted to make a call, that option's out the window now."

Ward nodded solemnly behind her.

Laguna stepped further into the room, Selphie and Ward following suit and, before they knew it, they were in the center of the room. Ward approached one of the terminals as Laguna stepped inside the communications booth, pressing a couple of buttons on the stand positioned in front of him and frowning when nothing happened.

Selphie followed Ward's example and positioned herself in front of another terminal, pressing the activation system that was supposed to bring the monitor online. Ward had moved onto another one, without its monitor having been destroyed and was trying the precise thing Selphie was.

Just as Selphie was about to give up and move onto the next terminal, a florescent blue light flashed on and, when Selphie turned back around, the terminal that she was just about to leave had finally booted up. "Whoo-hoo!" she shouted, forcing the elder men with her to jump in surprise. As soon as their attention was fixed onto the Trabian raised female, Selphie pointed excitedly towards the monitor, grinning as she spoke. "It works! I found one that still works!"

Immediately dropping whatever it was they were doing, both Ward and Laguna rushed towards the girl, standing behind her as she began tapping at the buttons displayed on the screen in front of her. "I'm just logging onto the network. Are there camera's installed into this computer?"

"Of course," Laguna said. "Just in case something happened to the workers and the cameras in the room got shot out."

Nodding to herself, Selphie waited patiently before the computer had finished booting itself and began searching the computers memory, the screen turning black for a moment before multitudes of images began popping up onto her screen. Frowning slightly, her fingers continued to fly up onto its surface as each image was pushed aside, the younger girl searching for something.

Finally, she hit the jackpot. Immediately, she opened the computer memory logs and widened the screen, so that it was the only object popped up in her line of view. Turning to look towards the others, she smiled and said, "You might want to sit down guys. I think we're about to find out exactly what happened here."

Pressing the enter button on the monitor, Selphie took her seat at the desk while Laguna and Ward pulled up chairs and did the same. As soon as it came on, Selphie's fingers returned to the screen, accessing the audio controls and fixing the volume settings.

At first, the screen was black, but a moment after the log had been started, static appeared across the screen before suddenly blinking out and revealing a man dressed in the Estharian garb, a purple stripe running down the front of his uniform. From what Selphie could see of his face, the man had to be no older than his late fifties, with light greying eyebrows and age lines across his face. Despite his weary appearance, however, his eyes held a fierce look of desperation.

"That's Harold Schipner," Laguna explained to Selphie. "He's the head of the communications department.

Selphie catalogued the name into her mind just as the Schipner began to speak to them. "If you are watching this, and everything is peaceful, then please feel free to destroy this message as it takes up considerable amount of memory. However, if you one of the lucky few survivors of the events that have begun to take place throughout the course of the last few days, then it means the rest of the technical support crew has been murdered.

"A little while ago, we heard a news report on a medical outbreak, one that could lead to harm if we did not report our symptoms to our medical physicians. Obviously, since this happens a lot in Esthar, people procrastinated, excusing their behaviour by explaining the consequences of dropping everything and waiting for hours and hours upon end just to be assured that everything would be alright. I myself cannot be excluded from this equation, and I severely warned those who wished to speak to their doctors, telling them that work was more important than some rumour of a new virus. If I could turn back the clock, I wouldn't have been so strict."

"Outbreak?" Selphie asked curiously. "What outbreak?"

"You didn't listen to the radio or the news this past week?" Laguna asked.

Selphie shook her head. "Nope. I've been busy hanging out with Rinoa and the others. Guess I don't really have an excuse.

"Well, let me give you the shortened version. There was some form of new virus that was discovered when someone came in complaining about symptoms. The doctors treated it, and then there were more complaints about the same thing. After that, the doctors made an announcement, warning everyone to report to their physicians if they find that they have the same symptoms."

"Which were…?"

"Nausea, pale pigmentation, lack of appetite, lethargic tendencies, light-headedness, that sort of thing. The later symptoms that were discovered after the original reports were sudden pain, and violent vomiting."

Pointing at Selphie, Laguna continued his explanation. "And you just said everything that any native Estharian would have said. No one seems to bother to listen to these kind of reports anymore, since the medical system has been looking into more and more of these cases."

"Those symptoms sound like the ones that one girl from the movie had," Selphie said, ignoring Laguna's comment. "The woman who got bitten at the beginning, remember? Her skin was slowly paling, and soon afterwards, she couldn't hold up her own weight? She was really weak and then she couldn't see and everything."

"After the outbreak became too much to deal with," Schipner continued with his explanation, oblivious to the conversation his superior and the Trabian raised brunette were having. "we sealed off a section of the city to ensure that the viral infection did not spread, before the medical staff residing in the Presidential Residence began working on an antivirus. For a little while we thought we were safe, even as the ones who were infected suddenly died. That is, until they started to get back up.

"They stormed through the quarantine equipment like it was nothing, knocking down people, scratching, biting and eating others. Even as they moved on, others who had been attacked after the fray were suddenly walking of their own accord, doing to others what had been done onto them."

"So Zell was right…" Selphie muttered. "You _can_ turn into one of those things."

Her thoughts immediately fell upon Irvine, who had possessed scratches on his face the last time she had seen him.

There was a banging sound, and a few people's terrified screams could be heard behind Schipner. Turning around briefly, Schipner's features paled as he returned to face his unknown audience. "I don't have much time left. The Presidential Residence has been breached. People have slunk in through different exits, biting and scratching everyone and turning them into one of those things."

The banging sound became louder as more force was pressed upon the door, apparently keeping the zombies out of the room. "I don't know if the medical team has finished working on it, but there _is_ a cure! I don't know where they would keep it either, but if you have been bitten or scratched by those things, I would say that the safest thing to do would be to kill yourself before you turn into them. From what we've gathered, damaging the top of their spinal column or massive brain trauma will kill them, but anything else will be ineffective."

Suddenly, the door behind Schipner blew open as a mass of zombies crawled into the room. In the background, the three occupants could see two other technicians trying to flee for their lives. One of the technicians, a young woman with strawberry-blonde hair managed to manoeuvre her way out of the room, however her left arm had a large chunk of skin missing, even as she pulled on the Estharian robes. Another one of the technicians, a man who appeared to be the same age as Schipner, was being pulled backwards from under his terminal, where he had been hiding and, having been surrounded, was screaming loudly as the monsters began to devour him.

The view was suddenly blocked as Schipner was grabbed by the zombies flanking him. His eyes grew more desperate as he turned his attention towards the zombies. "Help me! For the love of Hyne, Help –"

His plea for assistance was cut off when the feeds switched the static once more, shrouding everyone in its darkness. No one spoke for a moment, even as the snowy picture stared back at them.

Shakily, Selphie rose from her seat, checking her person to see if she had been bitten or scratched and was thankful to find that she had not been. If Zell had been there, watching what they had been, he would have said 'I told you so'. With no one there to say it, Selphie wished that they had all listened to his warning when he had still been alive.

"He didn't say how long it would take for someone to turn into one of those things," she said as she broke the silence, save for the static sounding nearby.

"I think it depends on our individual immune system," Laguna said. "It'd make some sense if it did."

Selphie nodded in agreement. Even with new viruses, the immune systems ability to fight back was different with each person. Deciding whether some lived and others died with its new outbreak, or how long it would take.

_So if you have a really strong immune system it could take a while… _Selphie thought to herself. _That's got to be a real shitty way to die._

Just as Laguna was about to say something, the lights suddenly began to blink, before they shut off altogether. The white image of snow also blinked out and, when Selphie tried pressing the keys in order to get the system back up and running, did not blink back on again.

"Just what we needed," Laguna threw his hands up into the air. "A power outage. That's what Ward said, anyway."

Selphie pulled out the 5.7mm that Squall had given her earlier in the evening, raising it and holding it out, looking in different directions in case something jumped out from behind her. Because of the light of the sky shining through the windows, she was able to see the illuminated forms of Ward and Laguna, their weapons pulled out as well.

Sudden movement from her right caught her attention and, never lowering her weapon, Selphie whirled around, pointing towards whatever it was and wishing that she had junctioned her Guardian Forces for this. Normally, she would have, except that she was on vacation, so it wasn't necessary. Also, the theory that the Guardian Forces managed to make their junctioner forget important things such as childhood had been proven true through her team. Everyone excluding Irvine had forgotten that they had all been raised in the same orphanage when they were younger, until they had all been separated through adoption.

Since she didn't have the added strength the junctions would have awarded her, Selphie knew that she was on her own.

Laguna signalled to Ward and Selphie to search the room for the movement, and, nodding once, Selphie did as she was told, searching underneath terminals and behind debris and rubble that had once been technical equipment. She reached one of the closets nearby and, taking in a deep breath, she raised the gun in one hand as she reached out to open the door slowly, jumping back as soon as the task had been completed…

…and finding that the hidden room was empty.

Sighing in relief, she jumped as she suddenly heard Laguna cry out and fall onto the ground nearby, wrestling with one of the zombie workers before a sickening snap resounded throughout the room, the monster falling limp and Laguna sliding out from underneath it, with help from Ward.

"I think I've just verified Schipner's theory about the spinal column," Laguna said after a moment of checking himself for scratches, trying to fill the air.

Her gun still raised just in case the zombie tried to get back up, Selphie turned the creature over and her frown deepened. "This _is_ Schipner."

Laguna and Ward congregated towards the body and, judging by their grim expressions, Selphie could tell that they too recognized the body. The man that they had just witnessed sending his warning was lying limply, his neck inclined in one direction with his milky eyes open, staring at one side of the office. He was still dressed in the same Estharian garb he had been wearing when making the broadcast, but there were bits of the fabric missing through bite marks, coagulated blood having soaked through the uniform.

"So much for killing himself when he became infected," Selphie muttered bitterly.

"There's still another two…" Laguna trialed off before turning to Ward, the gentle giant shaking his head dismayed. "Sorry, one left in here. Ward says that the last technician ran out of here just in time."

Selphie recalled seeing that and wondered vaguely where she had ended up.

Another sound was heard, and all three backed into each other, standing in a triangular formation, weapons raised and making sure that nothing could sneak up onto them.

They stood like that, weapons raised for a few precious moments before Selphie saw some movement from Ward's side. "Ward! Look out!"

Ward reacted, but not quickly enough.

The second zombie body they expected to see in the room jumped from its crouching form, before grabbing a hold of Ward's leg and biting through the fabric. Selphie jumped out of the formation and shot her weapon once, the bullet imbedding itself right through the skull. The zombie fell limp onto the ground, and Laguna wrenched the monster's grip free.

Ward fell backwards, landing in a sitting position on the floor, blood spilling onto the ground from the bite he had sustained. However, before they could do anything, the sound of something else scurrying around could be heard. As Ward tried tentatively to stand on his feet, Selphie and Laguna already aimed their weapons up into the air, watching for any trace of movement and listening for any sound indicating where the perpetrator was hiding.

When nothing revealed itself initially, Laguna signalled for Selphie to continue searching before moving towards Ward and helping him stand, even if it meant Ward would have to walk hunched over. Selphie watched them from the corner of her eye before concentrating and releasing a spell, never wavering from her readied stance. Having closed her eyes during the process, she slowly opened them and took in her surroundings.

Rather than the red, white and blue that normally stood out against each other despite the darkness blanketing her surroundings, the room took on different hues of grey. The fact that the power was out didn't hinder the scan spell as she searched all over, hoping to find any form of movement.

Immediately turning towards the zombies, she noted that their bodies had a blue signature, signifying that there was no heat signature and that they were dead. Looking up at Laguna and Ward, their bodies resonated red, yellow and orange tones, telling her that the two figures standing near her were alive and well.

_So I have to look for a moving signature that's blue. Great._

Selphie mentally shook herself of these thoughts before scanning the room further, never pausing to close her eyes for a second, since the spell would dissipate once she did. Laguna and Ward appeared to be having a conversation but Selphie ignored it for the most part, concentrating on the task at hand.

Something moved from the girl's left and Selphie turned towards it, her weapon raised, only to watch as it skittered out of view. With the scan spell having been cast, Selphie wouldn't normally see any changes in the wall in front of her, however due to the darkness caused by the lack of power, as well as the info-red state the spell awarded her, she could tell very well what had been done.

The wall had scratches from where – whatever it was – had moved.

Blinking out of the scanned state, Selphie kept her weapon raised as she turned back towards Ward and Laguna. "We need to get outta here!"

"Is something here?"

Selphie nodded numbly. "Something we don't wanna mess with."

Laguna took the hint without asking further questions, Ward limping and trying to keep his balance and not knock Laguna over to the side at the same time. Selphie nodded and turned to follow them outside when she heard another sound coming from behind her. She raised her weapon and turned around, surprised to see that nothing was standing behind her. She had expected to see the familiar shuffling coming from the near endless number of zombies she had encountered that night alone.

Finding nothing standing behind her, Selphie turned back around in order to follow the other two—

—and screamed when she found something blocking her path.

The creature was three times the young girl's size; its skin corded and plated, no longer appearing as though it were human. It possessed opposable thumbs from what Selphie could gather, with long claws that grew from those thumbs and fingers attached to what the girl could only think to be its hands. It's spine was curved and elongated, forcing the creature to crawl unnaturally on all fours, scratching the surface with it's claws.

The worst thing about the creature was its eyes.

It didn't have any.

The head was humanoid, but the similarities ended with the bottom of the face. A brain-like tissue jutted out of the creature's skull.

Taking an instinctive step back, Selphie levelled her weapon at the creature. She had seen it once before, in the movie they had all watched seemingly years ago, when in actuality it had been earlier in the week. Zell had called it a Licker, and had explained that, apart from another creature named Nemesis, it was the single most horrifying thing anyone could ever run into.

As she looked into its eyeless gaze, the SeeD couldn't help but agree with him.

The Licker snapped open its mouth, widening its jaw line beyond proportions that shouldn't have been possible for a humanoid's ability and slashed out with it's insanely long tongue between a set of sharp teeth she wanted absolutely nothing to do with.

Selphie had the mindset to immediately duck down and roll out of the path of fire, the tongue following her closely as she moved. She had just pulled herself to her feet and was preparing to run after Ward and Laguna when the tongue ensnared her leg and pulled her, roughly, back onto the ground, the 5.7mm flying from her hand and landing near a wall of terminals.

Chancing a look behind her, Selphie screamed loudly as she saw the Licker crawling towards her, the part of its tongue that could move swerving back and forth as it moved. Before it could pull her closer towards itself, a shot sounded and Selphie saw the bullet imbed itself in the center of the tongue, forcing the creature to cry out in agony.

Taking the opportunity, Selphie pulled out a combat knife and, very quickly, sliced it through the tongue, blood spilling onto the ground nearby as she backed away from the screaming monster. A moment later, Laguna pulled Selphie up to her feet and pulled her backwards, shock having taken over and rendered her legs useless. Ward leaned behind the wall and was firing at the creature from the gun Selphie had dropped, gritting his teeth through the pain as he did.

Selphie looked behind her once again, seeing the Licker seemingly glaring at them before it suddenly jumped upwards, scaling the wall as if it were second nature. She didn't need to see the claw marks imbedded in the floor to know they were a perfect match to the ones she had seen earlier through the scan spell.

They reached Ward, who was searching aimlessly for where the creature had gone. Because the room was dark, the Licker held the advantage, being able to crawl quickly and detect its prey as if it were nothing.

Ward gave Laguna a look, and Selphie would have gladly given her left arm (had she not have a use for it at the moment) to understand what Ward was trying to say this time, but judging by the expression that quickly crossed Laguna's features, Selphie figured that it wasn't a good one. "No."

Ward gave him another look, looking up at the ceiling at the same time, as if tracking the monster.

"I said no, Ward." Laguna said firmly. "Kiros said the same thing and we haven't seen him in hours."

"What did he say?" Selphie asked and was surprised to find that her voice quivered for a second.

"Ward says," Laguna hesitated for a second, his eyes also scanning for the elusive creature. "He says that he wants us to get out before him and that he'll follow in a second."

"But all it _takes_ is a second," Selphie said.

"He says, 'Laguna can't carry both of us and you can barely stand, let alone walk.' He says, 'I can at least limp away. It's just a bite and if we find the antidote, we can use it to treat me'."

When he was finished speaking for his long-time friend, Laguna frowned deeply. "He's right though. I really can't carry both of you. And if Ward carried you, it would overbalance you both. We can't have that."

"So it's literally a choice of who gets to survive and who doesn't?" Selphie asked indignantly.

Ward shook his head and, upon seeing the expression on his face, Laguna hesitated for a moment before nodding at his friend and translating. "It's not a choice of survival. It's simply a choice of who gets out of this room first. You guys go in front of me, and I'll be a little ways behind. Trust me. We're all getting out of here. I don't intend to stay behind any more than either one of you."

Selphie looked between Laguna and Ward, wondering what was going on in their minds at that moment. She knew that it was only a matter of time before the Licker came out of its hiding spot, but she didn't want to live just because someone else died.

Finally, Laguna nodded tersely before pulling Selphie with him towards the door, Ward pulling himself to his feet and beginning to limp behind them.

"What're you –?" Selphie questioned but was interrupted by Laguna.

"You heard him. He's coming out of here with us," Looking back, Selphie could see Ward following as closely as he could, occasionally grimacing through the pain in his leg.

Cursing herself, she wished that she hadn't gotten jelly-legged at a time like this. Her training should have prevented the panic from taking over, but instead it failed her.

Then again, she wasn't trained to stand up to creepy looking dead things that kept getting up when you shot them.

C'mon Tilmitt… she thought to herself. It's easy. Just put one foot in front of the other. You can do it. You have to. You can't become a burden to everyone else. No one needs a burden, especially not now.

Slowly, little by little, she was able to move her left foot, put it in front of her right before putting her right foot in front of her left. Smiling despite the grim circumstances, she continued this procedure, slowing the pair down as Laguna helped her balance before she was capable of walking on her own power.

"The shock's wearing off!" She grinned at Laguna, who smiled back and gave Ward the thumbs up. Ward smiled in response.

"You could go give Ward a hand now," She smiled as they reached the door. "Not that I'm not grateful for your help, Sir Laguna."

Laguna nodded once, but before he could respond, something caught his eye and he looked up. Selphie did the same, before catching sight of the same sickeningly familiar tongue that had appeared no more than a few moments ago. It was climbing down from the ceiling above them, staring at them easily despite the fact that it possessed no eyes.

Selphie gripped the 5.7mm in her hand and shot two bullets into the creature, only succeeding in puncturing its face and it crying out in fury rather than pain. Before she could fire off another round, however, she found herself pulled up from the ground and shoved out the door, a loud slamming sound resonating throughout the corridors. Upon realizing that the door had shut, she immediately rose to her feet, looking around and finding Laguna pulling himself up into a sitting position. They shared a look and realized exactly what had just happened.

Ward wasn't with them.

Both of them darted towards the door and, as Laguna tried punching in a key code, Selphie slammed her fists into the metal object, trying to pry it open with force.

"The controls aren't responding," Laguna said, sounding like he was fighting the panic from showing in his voice. "They must have been affected by the power outage." Frowning slightly, Laguna glared at the machine balefully as he walked away from it. "The back up power should have come on by now."

"We need to get him outta there!" Selphie continued to claw at the door, but she wasn't leaving any marks on its surface, let alone opening it. "We can't just leave Ward in there with that thing!"

Selphie suddenly caught Laguna's gaze falling onto the ground beneath their feet and, upon turning her attention towards the floor, she stepped back as she noticed the puddle of blood seeping through the gap under the door. Both returned their gaze to eye level before returning it towards the door before them.

"Did Ward kill that thing?" Selphie asked hopefully.

Laguna sighed in response. "As much as I'd like to think that, I doubt that that was the case."

He was suddenly interrupted by a loud pounding and a small dent appearing on the door. Another dent was formed, slightly bigger than the previous one and both took another step back. "We should keep moving."

"But what about—?"

"Ward got us out of there for a reason," Laguna interrupted her. "If we just let that thing kill us, it'd all be for nothing."


	9. Hostile Territory

_R2 says that the chances of survival are 725 to 1. Actually R2 has been known to make mistakes - from time to time... Oh dear...  
_**- **CP30 – Star Wars

* * *

Turning the corner sharply, she managed to avoid tumbling hard onto the ground as she stumbled after a misstep. Thinking back on it, she realized that she should have chosen better footwear as she continued her sprint down the hallway, Angelo quickly gaining on her.

She had hated the prospect of leaving Rinoa behind after she had been attacked and killed by her own dog, but Quistis had a feeling that, had she stayed, things would have only gotten worse. More of those things had been on the way, and since the dog had come around first, she had followed the basic instinct of survival as reverently and religiously as those things followed their need to feed.

After turning down yet another corridor, Quistis noticed a door at the end, and sprinted towards it. She took the last amount of strength she possessed from the burning muscles in her legs to propel and hoped that she would make it as the sound of paws hitting the floor behind her steadily became louder.

She really didn't want to chance a look behind her, but she did anyways, noticing the seemingly normal looking dog quickly gaining speed, her teeth bared and ready to bite the first thing she could sink her fangs into. Having reached the doorway, Quistis typed in a random key code, hoping that by doing so, she would stumble upon luck and have the door open.

Luck laughed in her face.

Frowning, Quistis looked at the gap between the door and the wall and pulled as hard as she could. Cursing Cid for his banishment of her team's usage of Guardian Forces, she pulled until she thought her fingers were going to break off until finally the door gave way, opening marginally. She continued to pry at the door until the gap was big enough for her to crawl through, chancing a quick glance behind her when she was on the opposite end of the door. Angelo was quickly closing the gap between them and, with the remaining strength she could muster from her arms, she pushed the door closed tightly, just as the canine collided into it.

When the door connected with the wall, she heard a loud click, which signalled that the door was officially closed. As she took a deep breath in order to still her racing heart, the dog behind her barrelled into the door and bounced off of it, growling and scratching at its surface, trying to get inside and attack the prey within. Not wanting to be around should the animal manage to find her way inside, Quistis chose to keep moving.

A mere moment of surveying her surroundings told her that she was inside of the residence kitchen, numerous pots and pans hanging from the hangers they were stationed on, the ovens appearing not to have been used for a while when only a few hours ago it was dinner time.

Quistis cursed the irony of her recent thought.

The pounding noise from behind stopped and Quistis hoped that Angelo hadn't caught sight of the others. The collie-dog looked normal enough that she would be mistaken for still being alive, and, using that advantage, she would claim another life.

Like she claimed Rinoa's.

A sudden realization dawned on the instructor, which forced her to fall onto her knees out of despair. Angelo had been scratched during her encounter with the dog they had left Irvine behind with and she had died shortly afterwards. At that point, Quistis had been paranoid, not really thinking about what Zell had told them seemingly days ago about the affects of being scratched or bitten, only wanting to leave before those zombies got to them, but now she realized with a sinking heart, as the words of the movie she had watched ran through her head, that the brawler had been right all along.

_One bite…even one scratch is significant enough to infect a healthy human being_.

As if a dull reminder, the pain in the girl's right arm lanced through her, and the former instructor gripped it in a vain attempt to ignore it. She had been bitten earlier in the evening; just after sunset. And Rinoa had said, shortly before she had died, that she had been white faced. Quistis had taken it as the girl pointing out that she looked terrified, but it was something else.

Turning to look at one of the pots hanging in front of her, she realized that the younger girl had been right. Her face was pale, almost abnormally white and, even as she put her hands to her face, she felt that her body was becoming steadily colder. Bodies normally cooled after death, but she was very sure that someone who had not been infected by those zombies would tell her that she was freezing to the touch.

Slowly, but surely, she was dying.

Cursing loudly, and not really caring if anyone or anything had heard her, the eighteen year old girl slammed her hand off the side of one of the ovens, pain radiating through her palm soon afterwards, reminding her that she had not junctioned herself during this endeavour. It was then that she realized she was alone. No one else, save Rinoa and Angelo, had followed her down the stairs onto one of the lower levels, and no one was with her now. Rinoa would soon be rising, having been turned into one of those things, and would be looking for someone – anyone – to quench her need to feed.

Suddenly feeling much colder than she should, despite the sweat beginning to gather beneath her scalp, Quistis folded her arms in front of her chest and ran her hands up and down her arms to try and warm herself up before rising to her feet and beginning to move.

Maybe I should just give up, she thought to herself. I'm going to turn into one of those things anyway, and it's not like I can stop it.

Shivering slightly, Quistis forced herself to continue walking, before arriving near two bodies, both appearing to have been in the middle of a fight. One of them was definitely not getting back up – its neck had been broken. She wasn't so sure about the other one, since its neck was still intact. Both of them were dressed in chef's uniforms, which confirmed that they worked in the kitchens. From the looks of it, there didn't appear to be any damage that appeared to have been caused by a form of weapon and from Irvine's earlier statement when she had last spoken to him, both he and Zell had ventured into the canteen for dinner.

This was definitely Zell's handwork.

_I wonder if the others will be so quick to attack when I become one of them_, Quistis mentally mused.

The lights around her, which had been glowing an ominous white due to the florescent bulbs, suddenly blinked out of existence, leaving her in darkness. Quistis had to wait for her eyes to adjust before attempting to move again and, the moment she had done so, something fell to the floor behind her, forcing the former instructor to whirl around. From what little she could see, there was nothing behind her.

Raising her left hand, she summoned forth a holy spell, forcing it to stay in its single ball form and raised it up, illuminating the room and searching for the source of the noise. As she continued to backtrack, the light allowed her to see further into the back of the room and, as she manoeuvred around one of the stoves, she noted one of the pots lying on the ground, having fallen from the rack it had been positioned on.

Deciding that she no longer wanted to stay inside of the kitchen, she turned around and had to brace herself as another chef grabbed her around the neck before leaning forward, intending on biting her neck. The zombie pushed her backwards, forcing her to ram her back onto the stove surface and, as she and her attacker fell to the ground, her glasses slid off of her face and landed somewhere on the ground while the holy spell that had been summoned was snuffed out. Cursing, Quistis patted the floor nearby in an attempt to find her spectacles.

As she crawled on all fours in search of the object, the zombie grabbed a hold of her leg and she amended her previous thought on the choice of her footwear. Turning back around, she could barely make out a blurred outline of the zombie and, praying to Hyne that she didn't miss, closed her eyes briefly before opening them once again, a greenish-blue light lancing out and hitting the zombie, knocking him backwards and into something hard.

In her haste to get away from the monster (whether or not it was standing was no longer the case), she rose to her feet and, upon taking a step, she heard the sound of crunching glass.

Mumbling a prayer under her breath, Quistis bent down to retrieve the broken object and ceased her praying upon realizing that the object had been her spectacles. From what she could make of them, one side of the frames was now bent at an odd angle and the glass inside had indeed shattered. Feeling the other frame, she felt hairline cracks in the lens before throwing the object back down in disgust. She was now not only alone and dying, but she couldn't see worth a damn either.

Passing the two bodies she had already inspected, she made her way towards the seating area of the canteen, feeling her way by touching the walls or any other solid object she could get her hands on. When she finally felt the doorframe, she peered around it, hoping that she wouldn't have to encounter any more of those zombies when she decided that she would stop hoping for something positive to happen altogether.

The room adjacent to her current position was completely overrun by the undead, all shuffling around the room as if in a sort of daze. Some were missing parts of their faces, others were missing hands and feet, others appeared as though they shouldn't be walking on the broken limbs they had sustained and a select few were crawling around the perimeter.

Keeping her back pressed against the wall near the doorframe, Quistis sank onto her knees, her hands touching the surface of the floor beneath her. She was completely surrounded. On one end, a horde of zombies were patrolling the area, waiting for something – anything – to cross their paths. And towards the back entrance of the kitchen, Angelo was pacing – waiting – for her to emerge to become dog food.

Recalling the monsters waiting for her outside of her hiding spot, Quistis couldn't suppress the shudder that ran through her. Due to whatever it was that had caused all of this, the dead became reanimated, and thus functioned on the simplest of motor skills, such as walking and grabbing, all to sate their basic need to feed themselves. They had no mentality, and were no longer the intellectual men and women they had previously been. They no longer felt pain and charged through it as if it were nothing and even the most crippling of attacks, save for one that was very effective, were useless.

Quistis clenched her hands into fists so hard her knuckles turned white despite her pale appearance. She didn't want to turn into one of those things. She didn't want to be forced to roam around and kill in-discriminatively, without thought or malice towards her actions. She didn't want to find someone who was still alive, only to kill them in an instant or infect them with the thing that caused her to become a monster.

_No_, she corrected herself. _Not monsters. Even they can form a thought_.

Checking her ammunition supply, she grimly noted her current situation. She didn't have much left, so she would have to be careful of what she used. All three weapons were running low and she only possessed a few clips. It wouldn't be enough if the zombies chose to ambush her from the canteen.

Frowning, she realized that all she could do was wait for someone to find her, or until she died and turned into one of those things.

* * *

After making absolutely sure that they were no longer being followed by the creature, Laguna was able to regain his bearings and began the task of leading Selphie down the stairs towards the ground floor. Both had agreed that, most likely, the others would have found a way to the bottom floor and that would be where they caught up with them. Or at least, he hoped that was the case.

With Ward gone, Laguna had to wonder how the rest of the group was handling things, or whether or not everyone was still alive.

_First Zell, then Kiros, then Irvine and now Ward… _Laguna allowed the thought to trail off as both he and Selphie continued to descend the stairs, armed with an assortment of weapons and ammunition. Along the way, Laguna had managed to recall that the armoury was located on the sixth floor and, after finding it, both he and Selphie had armed themselves with as much ammo and weaponry as they could possibly carry.

Strapped along her right shoulder and stretching onto her the left side of her hip was an MP5K submachine gun with a double clip. Strapped in an X formation across her chest and back were straps filled with small explosives, with a small hand held detonator attached to a belt on her hip. Holsters had been strapped onto both of her legs and one was attached to her brown boots, all with 45 LDA's sitting within. She carried a small bag across her back, filled with magazine clips for each of the guns, placed strategically so she would spend minimal amount of time searching for the appropriate clip. Strapped to her arms were more hand held explosive devices which, unlike the ones strapped along Selphie's front and back, could be set off manually rather than through a detonator.

Rather than an MP5K, Laguna had grabbed the MP7 model, outfitted with a laser pointer. The weapon was fairly small, but he still had it strapped over his shoulder similar to the way Selphie positioned her weapon. Attached to a weapons belt he had managed to secure was a Micro UZI, the safety having been switched on to prevent himself from shooting his feet off. Slung over his other shoulder was a bag of ammunition and on the opposite side of the belt rested a holster for a 45 LDA. Another holster hidden underneath both of his pant legs near his ankles secured two more guns of the same fashion and, having decided that sandals were definitely the most comfortable of things to be running around in, had secured a pair of boots. The size was a little too long, but he had tied the laces secure enough that his feet wouldn't move around too much.

Afterwards, they both had managed to find a secure stairwell leading towards the lower levels. Each descended the stairs one in front of the other, never allowing themselves to turn their backs on the stairs below. When one of them reached the landing leading to another set of stairs, they would stop and wait for the other to pass them before proceeding further down.

Neither one had said much after having lost Ward and Laguna was grateful for the silence. As much as he had buried himself in his Presidential duties to avoid it, he'd rather allow his thoughts to flood his mind rather than voicing them at the moment.

He recalled the bad movies Kiros, Ward and himself would rent whenever they were on standby after a long mission. Aside from going to the bar and watching Julia Heartilly play the piano, it had been his favourite activity. It was a ritual that they had picked up on after accidentally renting a couple of tacky horror flicks. They'd watch the movies, and at some point, Kiros would critique it and tear apart the plot, at which point Ward and Laguna would dump whatever it was they were drinking or eating on the dark skinned man.

_Now they're both gone…_ Laguna thought sadly. _I could have prevented both of them from getting themselves killed and yet I didn't_.

He thought back to earlier in the evening, after Zell had been pulled into an elevator filled with zombies. He had told Kiros that staying behind was dangerous, that there was a high risk of the dark-skinned fighter not making it back alive, but Kiros had assured them all that he would be fine. Laguna hadn't believed it for a second, but had refused to argue, having very little time to think on the matter, and human nature – the instinct to survive – had taken over, controlling his actions as he had left one of his best friends behind to fight alone. Even though he and Ward had told the others they believed Kiros would make it out alive, they hadn't really.

Next had been a mere hour prior, when they had split up from the rest of the group after Irvine had been attacked by the zombie-dog. When the creature had been in hiding, and Ward had gotten injured, he had been forced to translate what it was the bigger man was trying to say to Selphie. He had been honest when he had told Selphie what it was Ward had been saying, up until the last bit. Ward had told him that in chess, people made sacrifices all the time to ensure that the king did not get captured. Laguna never played chess before in his entire life, but even he knew that the player to lose their king to the enemy had lost.

Ward had told him before they had begun to leave that he would walk with them to the door and, if that thing – a Licker, he recalled Selphie mentioning them right before everyone had split up - didn't make an appearance, he would leave with them, but to ensure that the head of the Estharian government – his best friend – made it out of there alive, he would give his life. He had wanted to argue, to tell Ward that what he was trying to say was nonsense, but the look on Ward's face had stopped him, silently telling him that to stop him from doing what he planned on accomplishing would be unforgivable.

He couldn't tell Selphie what the bigger man had told him. She would have refused to leave, and he wouldn't have been able to forgive himself if both of them had stayed behind. So he had made something up on the spot to fabricate the truth by telling her that Ward simply wanted them to move ahead, and that he would simply cover the rear. She had been sceptical at first, not agreeing with the plan, but she had relented in the end, which was how Ward had been able to shove them out of the room before that thing could stop them.

Laguna was almost positive that, had Selphie not been preoccupied with pulling herself together, she would have seen through the lie. It hadn't been easy to leave the bigger man behind, especially after watching a trail of blood seep through the door, but in the end, he had been able to pry Selphie away, explaining that Ward's death would have been in vain had they stayed behind.

It didn't make him feel any better though.

He had lost Kiros and Ward, and Selphie had lost pretty much everyone she had known since childhood as well as Rinoa. He had no idea if the others were still alive, or if they were safe, and he knew that weighed heavily on Selphie's conscience. To think that you were the last one left, the sole survivor, was a weight he didn't like carrying, but to have to experience it at the age of seventeen…

As soon as they came to the landing of the fourth floor, Selphie stopped moving and, since Laguna was currently behind her, he was forced to stop as well. He didn't need to ask why though, because the answer was right in front of him.

The forth floor landing was the last floor they could descend to in the stairwell, levelling off and giving the illusion that they had reached the bottom. The only indication that contradicted this though was the number four plastered on the door in front of them.

"If we get outta this alive," Laguna started, breaking the tense silence. "I'm making it a point to make all of the staircases reach ground level."

"_When_ we get out of this alive, Sir Laguna." Selphie corrected him, stressing the word when. Regardless of this fact, she was smiling at the remark. Laguna smiled back, even though he was sure it looked faked.

Selphie approached the door and grabbed the handle, turning towards Laguna and nodding tersely, to which Laguna returned. She immediately pulled the door open as Laguna raised the MP7, his index finger poised over the trigger. When the door was opened wide enough, Laguna quickly but silently approached the door, glad to know that his military training hadn't faded through the time he spent behind a political desk. Selphie followed closely afterwards, pulling the door closed and preventing her back from becoming exposed, raising the 45 LDA's as she did.

They were in a long hallway, though Laguna recognized it, despite all of the Residence hallways appearing alike. Beside the stairwell entrance at their left, the wall curved into a corner while the hall stretched down the right, seemingly miles away. Nothing appeared to have been disturbed, but from what the pair had seen so far, appearances could be deceiving.

Taking a chance look around the corner, Laguna saw to his disappointment that there were more of those zombies roaming about, either shuffling towards their location or shuffling away, seemingly aimless in their search for food.

A few of them were dressed in the Estharian garb, but a couple others appeared to have been part of security, dressed in the silver and purple uniforms of the Estharian military. Two of the number appeared to have been chefs, working in the kitchen located directly beside the cafeteria.

Removing his gaze from around the corner, he turned to Selphie and shook his head, indicating that they couldn't go left. Selphie nodded in understanding and both proceeded in the opposite direction, weapons raised in a readied stance. Both revolved in a three-sixty degree angle, making sure that their backs were never exposed for more than a second.

They continued to move down the darkened hallway, stopping and ducking behind some spot concealed by shadows in the even darker corners when they spotted movement, watching as zombies passed by, appearing to be harmless. The two knew better, however and would wait until the creature was out of sight before moving again.

After what felt like ages, Selphie and Laguna stopped in their movement, noticing more of those creatures roaming about, and had been forced to backtrack, retracing their steps until they reached the fork they had moved from. When they finally did, Selphie stopped, frowning as she continued to keep an eye out for more zombies. "So where do we go now? We can't just backtrack to the stairs, there's nowhere to go from there. The only thing I can think of is go back and put some bullets into those things."

"We should conserve our ammunition," Laguna stated. "But as for your question…" the President of Esthar trailed off as he mentally evaluated their current location. They were standing in the middle of the hallway, which led to four different places. The first path was right where they had come from, leading back towards the zombies they had seen wandering around before returning to the fork.

The second location, the path behind them, led back towards the stairwell, and also led towards the other side of the residence, more appropriately, towards the meeting chambers, where the government held meetings on the order of the country. Then there were the stairs, and he knew that was the only place they could go if they were trying to avoid the zombies. Unfortunately, it led to a dead end, since they were trying to reach the ground floor.

The path right in front of them would lead to yet another dead end, consisting of a corridor filled with rooms leading to the indoor gym, where some of the men and women employed within the building could work out during their off hour times. It was pretty much a waste of time since, other than the gym, the path didn't take them anywhere.

That only left one option, for them to head right, where it would take them towards the food junction of the building. There were three access points to reach the canteen. First, the route they were on would lead them to the lower level area, closest to the kitchen and, understandably, the more popular option to the workers during the dinner rush. The second was parallel to the first door, on the opposite end facing the kitchen, leading towards another set of stairs and the third was located within the upper seating area, and would lead to a landing that would lead towards the financial districts offices.

From what Laguna recalled (it had been a long time since he actually went down to the canteen himself to grab a bite to eat), the second exit was his best bet, since it held a stairwell that would lead to the lower levels of the building.

"You said you, Irvine and Zell all went to the cafeteria before running into those zombies?" Laguna asked, to which Selphie nodded. "Was it crowded?"

Selphie shook her head. "From what Zell and Irvy told me, it wasn't. I didn't get a chance to see for myself though. Zell and Irvy grabbed me and dragged me away from the place before I could."

Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, Laguna frowned. All they had to base that knowledge on was hearsay and, not that he didn't trust Irvine or Zell's word on the matter, he had always found that to be a poor source for information. Admittedly, he hadn't actually had the chance to officially become a journalist during his youth, but he knew enough to realize that you could only depend on a valid lead, and hearsay definitely wasn't a valid lead most of the time.

Unfortunately, it was the only thing they had at the moment, and they couldn't afford to be picky. "There's a way to make it to a stairwell that leads downstairs, but it's through the canteen. It's our only option."

Selphie nodded, understanding what he was talking about. "Then let's get a move on."

The pair moved towards the right, heading down the hallway, weapons raised, the same basic procedures they had been forced to abide by for the past hour and a half.

When they noticed signs that they were reaching the cafeteria, they slowed their pace, keeping their eyes pealed for anything that could jump out and ambush them.

_And I always used to tell Kiros he was paranoid for doing this… _Laguna thought to himself before squashing the thought. He couldn't afford to think about what had happened to his war buddies at a time like this.

When they finally arrived, Selphie took a look inside of the cafeteria before turning back to look at Laguna, frowning as she did. He did not like where it was leading, but he chanced a look himself, seeing the cause of Selphie's expression.

The room was filled with zombies, all shuffling around aimlessly, some taking a bite out of one of the zombies too close to themselves before the other one would retaliate. Upon seeing the sight, Laguna felt sick to his stomach as the first signs of a leg cramp was creeping up on him. People who used to work together were busy consuming each other, feeling the need to quench their seemingly unending hunger. People who used to be lovers were greedily eating each other, regardless of who they used to be.

It was exactly as Quistis had said. They no longer possessed the brain capacity for intellectual thinking. They were reduced to things that were forever following the basic of needs.

Laguna shuddered at the thought of ever becoming one of those things.

"Well, it could have filled up during the time it took for us to get down here," Selphie pointed out, trying to be helpful.

Laguna nodded in response. That was always a possibility. He looked back inside of the cafeteria, watching as the zombies continued to shuffle about. He didn't really want to have to go through all of that, just to get to another exit, but he knew they didn't have a choice. By all rights, they had nowhere else to go, and their only chance of escape was through the masses of walking dead.

A muscle in his left leg tightened and Laguna grit his teeth, trying desperately hard to take in soothing deep breaths. Relaxing had always helped him out in the past whenever he had been assaulted by the leg cramps, and even now he could feel it beginning to work. Turning to look at Selphie, he could tell she wanted nothing to do with sifting through those creatures, but an expression of determination crossed her features, signalling that she understood that there was no other option. She hefted the MP5K and nodded to Laguna once, an indication that she was ready to move when he gave the order.

Laguna in turn hefted the MP7 and nodded back, counting backwards from three. But before he had finished counting, Selphie raised her arm, as if to block an imaginary being standing behind them. Upon receiving his questioning expression, Selphie inclined her head towards the canteen once more, an expression the President had trouble reading at first, and Laguna followed the gesture, wondering what it was that had caught the girl's attention. One of the zombies was making its way towards the kitchen, probably hoping to find something inside for it to eat. Laguna didn't see what was so important about it until the bullet shot rung out and the zombie fell backwards, having been shot through the forehead.

Laguna turned to look back at Selphie, his expression mirroring hers, which he could now identify as hope. "There's someone alive in there," he whispered, stating the obvious.

Selphie nodded in agreement. "But they won't be alive for much longer if we stand here talking."

It was Laguna's turn to nod. They had to come up with a strategy fast. There was no telling how long the person inside would be able to hold off those zombies. "We both enter the canteen, and I'll veer off towards the kitchen, find the survivor and bring them out. You concentrate on clearing a path towards the door."

Selphie nodded once before both jumped out of the hallway, Laguna leading and Selphie not too far behind. Laguna held the trigger button on the MP7 down as he made a path towards the center before veering left, towards the kitchen, while Selphie maintained firepower, trying to create a path towards the opposite side of the room.

Zombies fell forward, mostly immobile, some dead from headshots, but the gunfire didn't stop just because one fell. Laguna circled around in a three-sixty degree action, catching any zombie he could in the chest or the head before they could reach forward and attack him. Gritting his teeth, he concentrated most of his attacks in front of him, until at last he made it to the counter barring access to the kitchen from any of the customers. Laguna managed to pull himself up onto the table and jump down before any of the pursuing zombies could reach out to grab him. He continued his stream of fire until he backed himself into the kitchen, pushing the door open with his back.

Before he could turn around and examine his surroundings however, something grabbing him from behind and tried to gnaw at his face. In a completely reflexive action, Laguna threw his elbow backwards, catching his attacker in the gut, but it did nothing to stave him. Just as he was about to get bitten however, a flash of light sent the corpse flying off towards the side, landing against the multitudes of pots and pans sectioned off to his immediate left.

Laguna turned to his right, weapon raised and intending to attack, but stopped when he saw the familiar blonde lowering her arms to her sides. She had scratches and bruises along her body, her clothes dirty from what Laguna could only guess to be multiple encounters of zombies or the like. Her hair was even more dishevelled than what it was when he had first seen her that evening, and her glasses were missing.

As much as he wanted to hug the SeeD, he knew that the pleasantries were going to have to wait.

"How did you –?" Quistis started, but was interrupted.

"No time to explain. We need to keep moving. There's a horde out there and I think someone forgot to mention that dinner was a long while ago."

After watching her nod quickly, Laguna turned to leave when Quistis grabbed his arm. "This might help." She quickly folded her arms in front of her before stretching them out at either side. A flash of purple magic encircling the both of them. When Laguna gave her an inquiring look, Quistis looked over towards the door leading back into the canteen.

"Mighty Guard. It casts protect and shell on the user and anyone else within the vicinity, that is alive." She had added the last bit when Laguna had been about to raise his concern. "I figured it out after assessing my ammunition supply. Protect creates a barrier that prevents an enemy from attacking you physically. It'll hold off those things, but not for long, so I'd suggest we hurry."

Laguna nodded in agreement before both of them left the safety of the kitchen, Laguna firing rounds of ammunition at the zombies who tried to attack. Quistis covered the rear, casting fire and wind elemental magic, burning her pursuers or blasting them aside.

Selphie was in the center of the room, providing backup fire power, even as Laguna and Quistis reached their position. The Trabian raised girl and the former Galbadian soldier took up positions at point or in the rear respectively in order to keep their enemy at bay, Quistis assisting with an arsenal of magic. Selphie soon ran empty and, while she was changing clips, Quistis took up covering her position, moving the smaller girl out of the way as she unleashed a barrage of gunfire at the zombies standing in their path, all of them having been torn apart by the Para-Magical bullets. She did the same when Laguna was forced to change his ammunitions clip.

Finally, the trio managed to reach the exit they desired and, as soon as they were out of the room, Laguna unclipped a grenade, pressed a button on the very top of the device before hurling it inside of the room and closing the door behind him, catching each and every one of those things in the room in the explosion.

Quistis, Laguna and Selphie had all barely been able to avoid being launched forward by the detonation, but had all stumbled and ducked as soon as the bomb when off. As they began the task of rising to their feet, Quistis was suddenly ailed by a hacking fit, of which Selphie began the process of slapping her on the back in an effort to help.

As he watched, Laguna felt a sudden swell of jealousy form inside, and immediately was ashamed because of it. Kiros and Ward were both dead, and yet, Selphie, who had been worried sick about the rest of her comrades and friends, fearing the worst imaginable circumstances, was in the process of being reunited with one of them.

Laguna stifled the thoughts in his head as quickly as they had emerged. Selphie had a right to know whether her friends were safe or not. He had no idea how he would have been able to handle it if he had been in her position, never knowing if they had been killed or if they were trapped in the hostile situation Quistis had managed to find herself in. At least he had known when his best friends had died.

Besides, if Quistis was still alive, then there was hope that the others were as well.

As soon as Quistis had stopped coughing, Selphie enveloped the elder girl in a hug, laughing as she did. "Whoo hoo!" she shouted through the giggles, and Quistis, who looked like she was completely out of her element, didn't know what to do besides hug the girl back. When the younger girl released her grip, she beamed happily as Quistis offered both Selphie and Laguna a small smile.

"As I was going to say earlier…" the former instructor said after a moment. "How did you find me?"

"It was sort of an accident." Laguna said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. Upon receiving a questioning look, he realized exactly how his words could be translated and immediately put his hands in front of him in a defensive gesture. "That didn't come out right. What I mean to say is, well… uh…" he had absolutely no idea how to get himself out of the trouble he had just landed.

Selphie laughed light-heartedly. "I think what he means to say is that he's happy to see you alive, and it was a good thing we were cutting through the cafeteria when we did."

Quistis nodded. "Yeah, I gathered."

Laguna smiled sheepishly as Selphie grinned widely. "So, um… what happened when we split up?"

The expression on Quistis' face stiffened slightly, but as Laguna was about to take back the question, Quistis held up a hand to silence him. "No, you deserve to know what happened. But we should probably keep moving. Who knows if any more of those things are going to become attracted to the smell of rotting corpses."

Selphie and Laguna nodded and, as they began walking, Quistis began her explanation. "I made it to the fourth floor before I realized that not everyone had done the same, so I went back and found Rinoa. She was having a nervous breakdown, and Angelo had been scratched during the scuffle with the dog, so when she died, Rinoa was in a fit state. She refused to leave the animal, and while she was grieving, Angelo woke up and killed her.

"I managed to get away and locked myself inside of the kitchen, but at the time, I didn't know that the cafeteria was filled with those things." Sighing, Quistis smiled, but it was a sad one. "I suppose we should have listened to Zell when we had the chance, huh?"

Selphie nodded in agreement, the ecstatic expression having left her face. "So Rinny's dead? And Angelo too?"

Quistis nodded in response. "But, that's not the only thing."

Laguna noticed that, as the trio was walking, Quistis appeared to be holding onto her right arm with her left hand, on the spot just above her elbow, which was covered by her sweater. The expression on the SeeDs face was also disconcerting; she looked as though she was a young child having been caught in trying to hide something from a furious parent. He didn't know exactly what it was that she was going to say, but he felt his gut tightening all the same.

Suddenly, Quistis stopped moving altogether, shocking both Selphie and Laguna, since it had been her idea to keep moving. The blonde female took in a deep breath before releasing it slowly and, after a moment of silence, began to speak once again. "I'm flattered that the both of you came after me when you discovered that someone else was still alive, but you should have just left me behind."

"What?" Selphie shouted indignantly. "Quisty, why would we have left you behind?"

"Trust me when I say that you'd be a lot safer if I wasn't around."

Quistis moved her hand as she brushed a strand of hair out of her face and it was then that Laguna saw it. On the exact spot the girl had been concealing with her hand was a bandage made of gauze material, and he could make out blood seeping through the thick bandage. "What happened to your arm?" Laguna asked.

Selphie's attention turned to the bandage even as Quistis sighed heavily. "Earlier this evening, before the group of us met in Squall's office, one of the Presidential Aids barged into my room. At first I thought he was being rude, and then I noticed how sickly he looked, so I thought he needed help, but then he bit me. I didn't think it was a big deal, but when Zell started telling us about how they turn you into one of those things, I started to wonder if he was right. I guess I received my answer after Angelo turned."

Quistis set her jaw before speaking once again. "The point is that I've been infected, and sooner or later I'm going to become one of those things. When I do, I'm not going to be able to control my actions, so it'd be best if you both stayed away from me."

"I'm not just gonna stand by and leave you all alone like this," Selphie jumped in. "We lost Ward an hour ago, because he thought he was doing the right thing for me and Sir Laguna! We're not letting you go off by yourself! What if one of the zombies grabbed you?"

"I'm already going to turn. What difference would it make?" Quistis argued.

"We can think of something!" Selphie sounded desperate. "There was an antidote in the movie! There'll be something that can cure you…"

"And if we're already too late? What then?" Quistis snapped. "I've seen what those things do. When she was still alive, Angelo was devoted to keeping Rinoa safe. She would have never attacked Rinoa. You didn't see Angelo rip out Rinoa's throat as if she were nothing but a piece of meat!"

"Then we'll deal with it when it happens!" Selphie shouted. "We just found you again, why should we ditch you because of circumstances you couldn't control? Quisty, you're not a superhero! Things happen! It doesn't mean you should just give up!" The Trabian raised girl was on the brink of tears, her eyes beginning to water up. "Don't do this to us! Please, don't give up just because you don't want to hurt us!"

Laguna would have contributed to the discussion had he been able to think of anything to say. He should have known by the fact that Quistis' skin was paler than it normally should have been, but he was concerned for her all the same. They had finally found someone out of the group who had unwittingly split up and she had just confessed to them that she would be turning into the things they were trying to avoid running into. Laguna made up his mind then and there. That no one else was going to get left behind if they could help it.

"Like Selphie said, we'll deal with it when the time comes," Laguna jumped in before Quistis could argue the point further. "In the meantime, we should concentrate on finding a way out of the building. There should be stairs nearby that we can take to the bottom floor."

Quistis sighed and, for a moment, Laguna thought she was going to argue. But what she said next caught him completely off guard. "I'll go with the both of you…"

Selphie's squeal interrupted the blonde and a look in her direction stopped her from jumping up and down. "But, if it looks like I've turned into one of those things, do not wait for me to attack. I want either of you or both of you to take me out. Do I make myself clear?"

At the tone of voice the SeeD was speaking in, Laguna suddenly felt as though he were back in school. Then again, she had been an instructor a full year before Ultimecia had made her move. Both he and Selphie nodded, Selphie grinning from ear to ear, despite what she had just agreed to do. Laguna couldn't blame her. There was strength in numbers and he planned to use that to their advantage.

Thinking back on it though, there seemed to be something odd about their current numbers. There had been nine of them in the very beginning. Zell had died, Kiros had stayed behind and was probably dead as well, and Irvine had stayed back when they had split up. Selphie, Ward and himself had ended up together, and Quistis only mentioned Rinoa and Angelo.

Laguna's features paled. Only eight people had been accounted for. That left one person missing from the equation…

"Where's Squall?" Laguna asked, catching Quistis' attention.

The former Instructor merely blinked back at him in surprise. "You mean he wasn't with either of you?"

Selphie shook her head. "Nope. The only other person we were with was Ward."

"Well the only ones following me were Rinoa and Angelo." Quistis explained and as soon as she had finished speaking, it sank in. Quistis was the one to break the silence that filled the air after the realization dawned on them. "When we split up, he must have gone a different direction from the rest of us."

"You mean he's running around the Presidential Residence _by himself_?" Selphie shouted. "What if he got caught by the zombies?"

"Squall's resilient. He knows how to defend himself," Quistis reasoned, although Laguna could tell she was also worried.

"We should go look for him," Laguna said. "He shouldn't be wondering the halls of the Presidential Residence by himself, especially with those things on the loose. The stairs led up, so we'll start looking from where we last saw him."

Both Quistis and Selphie nodded, and Laguna led the girls towards the stairwell. Despite keeping an eye out for more zombies, he heard Quistis assure Selphie that they would find Squall and he would be just fine.

Laguna sincerely hoped the elder SeeD was right.


	10. Things That Go Bump in the Night

_Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue.  
_- Dilbert's Words of Wisdom

* * *

He had stopped to catch his breath after a few minutes of running through the corridors, and had come to realize that he was alone. No one had followed after him, having chosen their own paths to take, possibly without thinking. Frowning thoughtfully, Squall thought back to where they had been before they had unwittingly split up, and concluded that there had been multiple pathways to choose from.

Unfortunately, no one had thought to go in the same direction.

His frown turning into a scowl, Squall debated whether he should keep moving in the direction he had been heading in before deciding to head back and locate the others. There was strength in numbers, and he didn't like the idea of being left to his own devices against those things. At the same time, he needed to know that everyone was alright.

Having made up his mind, he began to backtrack, 9mm in one hand and the 5.7mm in the other, keeping alert just in case one of those things tried to attack him again.

_No combat knives, very little ammunition left, and no gunblade…_ the SeeD Commander thought to himself as he retraced his steps, turning a corner through the corridor and making his way down the hallway. _What else could possibly go wrong?_

In any other situation, Squall would have been junctioned, regardless of the fact that he had just completed a mission and the world was too busy recovering from their own casualties to start fighting one another. However, after discovering the long-term effects of Guardian Force usage, the Headmaster of Balamb Garden had limited their use. For the ones who had been affected indefinitely, they were to begin writing in journals, so that when they did use the GF's they would still have something to remember their past.

_And since we don't have those stupid journals yet, the Headmaster doesn't want us to use Guardian Forces until after we've returned to Garden, _Squall thought to himself bitterly. _This is something that I wouldn't want to remember. Thank you Cid_.

As he made his way back to the crossroads that they had split up at, Squall heard a noise in front of him. Raising the firearms he held, Squall searched his surroundings for the cause, deciphering the sound as footsteps. They were too light to be human, and his stomach tightened when the realization dawned on him.

A dog, similar to the one everyone had split up from, was standing on the opposite end of the corridor, staring at him. It was missing one of its ears, but there was no way Squall was going to stand there and critique the creature. It was faster than one of those walking corpses, and he didn't know if he would be able to shoot it head on if it were to charge at him.

Still, it was only one dog. He had enough ammunition to handle the four-legged creature, but not enough to waste without cause.

Just as he was getting ready to shoot, however, more foot falls could be heard from behind the canine and two of it's brethren came up along side of it. One of the dogs was missing half of its face and the other looked as though it really shouldn't be walking on one of its legs.

"Shit." Squall muttered as he levelled the 9mm, frowning deeply as he did. If he missed, then it meant he had fewer bullets to work with, and it could, quite possibly, decide whether or not he walked out of this alive.

The three dogs growled in unison and charged forward while Squall was taking aim. He managed to shoot the one missing its ear through the skull after taking two shots, one of them missing and becoming lodged within the tiled floor. The dog fell forward and did not get back onto its feet.

The remaining two creatures bounded towards him, their four legs helping to increase their speed, even as Squall emptied out the 5.7mm. Throwing it into his pocket for the meantime, he went to assume his casting stance when the dog missing it's face leapt at him, breaking the SeeDs concentration and forcing him to dodge the attack. He landed roughly onto his side before emptying the 9mm in an attempt to shoot the canine, finally landing three shots into it, one into its side and two into its neck.

Quickly climbing up onto his feet, he swiftly pocketed the other weapon as he side-stepped out of the path of the remaining dog. It didn't move nearly as quickly as its brethren, having been crippled from the beginning, but it was still faster than Squall was. The dog growled even as Squall moved back in an attempt to create some distance between himself and the dead beast. It would at least give him the time he needed to cast a spell, even if it didn't do anything.

Squall shook his head of such thoughts and assumed his casting stance, just as the wounded dog began to creep towards him. He grabbed the first spell he could, even as the dog lunged towards him and threw it in front of himself, knocking into the creature and very nearly catching him at the exact same time.

A wave of flames lashed up from underneath the animal, enveloping it in a blaze as Squall fell backwards, having attempted jumping backwards but having been caught off guard at the same time and landing on his back. The teenager sat back up, grimacing as he did, all the while the fire from the Fira Spell running its course before suddenly dispersing.

Squall blinked a couple of times after the spell dissipated before he was able to see once again. The creature was lying on the ground, smoke emitting from its prone form as Squall withdrew the .45 Calibre from the holster on his leg and held it steady as he slowly approached. Whatever was left of the dog's skin was a scorched mess of blood and muscle, and a puddle of the gore was now beginning to ooze onto the floor beneath its body.

Squall took in a deep breath, trying not to gag at the smell of burned flesh as he approached it, weapon ready as he towered over it. The creature did not move initially but, just as Squall moved to step over it, the canine's head snapped back up, growling and snapping as it did. Squall quickly moved his leg out of the dogs biting range before backing up slowly, the dog quickly rising to its feet.

Just as Squall had come to the conclusion that he would have to shoot it, he heard more footfalls and cursed mentally before searching around to see where it was coming from. Just before he could find out, however, the bloody dog lunged forward, intent on biting the SeeD. Squall raised the gun quicker than he would have thought possible before pulling the trigger and lodging a bullet between the animal's eyes. The dog fell a few feet backwards onto the floor, landing on its side.

Closing his eyes, he grasped a hold of a spell and cast it, opening his eyes slowly and searching his surroundings with the info-red-like abilities the Scan spell offered him. The entire hallway was a black and white hue, the corpses of the animals of which had attacked him possessing a blue body signature. This didn't relieve the SeeD one bit – just because they were dead didn't mean they were going to stay down.

He slowly continued down the hallway towards his destination, keeping both his eyes and ears open, never blinking as he moved. Just as he was getting nearer to where he wanted to go, another blue signature darted into his path of view and he stopped, levelling his weapon. He didn't want to use up the last reserves of his ammunition, but he wasn't fast enough to just catch the creature and kill it that way.

Or was he?

An idea floating into his mind, he assumed his casting stance, being careful not to blink at the same time, and concentrated on the spell he needed. Even as the blue blur was quickly approaching, he continued searching for it, hoping that he would be able to find it through feel alone.

Searching through a spell requires plenty of concentration and, normally, the caster would close their eyes in order to find the appropriate spell. It wasn't catalogued inside of their minds through chronological order, by colour or in some neat list grouping the type of spell with it's brethren, but by the appearance the spell took on. This is the easiest way to obtain a magical spell.

However, it is not the only way.

The alternative method is to search the spell out through feeling its properties. Only those highly skilled in magical manipulation like Selphie could do it easily enough. The only exception was Rinoa, who was a Sorceress and didn't need to be trained in the art. By searching through feeling out the spell, the caster isn't looking for a mental image of what the spell does, which is normally how they distinguish one from another. Through this method, feeling the spell takes longer to accomplish. The caster senses the properties of the spell and distinguishes what it would do for them.

Mentally cursing as he felt through each spell, each feeling not granting him the sense that he needed, he continued to press onward. As he pushed past each spell, he could tell that the lone canine was creeping nearer, the blue light that shone from its lack of body-heat telling him this.

Finally, he felt something quicken in his mind as he suddenly found the spell he was searching for and quickly cast it, his surroundings slowing down around him as time sped his movements. Quickly, he moved out of the path of the dogs teeth before coming to a halt. The canine snapped through air, even as the SeeD was coming up from behind. Placing the .45 back into its holster, he grabbed the dog firmly by the neck and head, gripped the struggling animal tightly and flicked his wrist, a resounding snapping noise filling the hallway before the canine fell onto the tiled floor.

It was only a moment later when Squall finally allowed himself to blink, dissipating the scan spell as time reverted back to normal. Pulling out both the 9 and 5.7mm, he checked the clip of ammunition it held before throwing both weapons away in disgust. He checked the .45 Calibre and frowned when he discovered that it only had about 5 rounds left out of the 10 it could carry, and all of his back up ammunition had been inside of the jacket those things had gotten a hold of earlier.

Biting back a curse, Squall moved away from the corpse and continued down the hallway, the .45 raised in front of him, regardless of his near depleted ammo reserves. He finally rounded the final corner that would lead him back towards the hall where everyone had in avertedly split up and, as he moved nearer towards the exact location they had all been together last, his foot falls slowed before they stopped altogether. A body lay before him in a mess of blood and flesh, but this time, it was human.

The body was dressed in a pair of brown pants and a purple vest underneath the familiar looking beige trench coat. There was no hat upon his head; having lost it during the run up the stairs earlier, and his boots still sat upon his feet. His long auburn hair, which normally sat in a ponytail trailing along his back, had come out of its elastic, falling in every which-way position gravity would permit it to fall. His face was inclined in the direction the SeeD was facing. Accompanying the sight were gashes and bite wounds the victim must have sustained, blood smeared along the jacket and the front of his clothes. The bite wounds were consistent to that of dog's teeth, meaning that the dead canines that attacked the lone SeeD earlier must have been responsible for the death.

Squall knelt down beside the body, setting the gun down beside him as he reached over to check its pulse, frowning when his suspicions were confirmed by the missing beat. He was dead.

The SeeD Commander took a deep breath before releasing it slowly. He let go of the wrist he had used to inspect and hung his head in dejection. He clenched his fists tightly before looking back up at the body and sighed once again. "I'm sorry, Irvine," Squall managed to mutter, despite him knowing the Galbadian raised male could no longer hear him. "We shouldn't have left you to fight them off. We should have stayed behind and helped you."

Just as he was about to rise to his feet however, he noticed the body twitch slightly and jumped backwards, landing roughly onto his rear. When nothing else happened, he released the deep breath he hadn't realize he had taken before mentally berating himself. When there was damaged to a specific vein in the body, it caused muscle spasms to occur. That was obviously what had taken place just now.

Squall wasn't in the habit of laughing at anything, having found nothing particularly funny throughout his 17 years of life, but he let a startled laugh escape him, if only to calm his shaken nerves. He had jumped over nothing.

Pulling himself up onto his feet, he jumped once more when something sounded from behind him. Whirling around, he put together that the scream (if it could be considered that), had not sounded human at all. Those corpses had no speech ability except to moan and groan as they walked, so it couldn't have been them, and animals didn't tend to scream. Birds screeched, but he doubted that any would have remained given the circumstances. Besides, it was far too loud to have been one of the winged creatures that commonly appeared in Estharian territory.

Whatever it was, Squall didn't exactly feel comfortable sticking around to find out, so he turned to head in the opposite direction of the sound –

- and jumped back when he saw Irvine standing at his full height of six feet.

Disregarding the wounds the sharpshooter had sustained as well as the pale tones his skin took, he looked as though nothing had happened. But when he lifted his head, Squall knew that the differences in his face would have given him away nonetheless. His eyes were no longer a brownish purple colour, but a milky-greyish-white and his teeth were jagged blackened stumps along a set of sickly-white gums.

Irvine snarled and, even as Squall took another step back, lunged forward, tackling the elder boy to the ground and trying to hold him still, inclining his head downwards in an attempt to bite him. Squall managed to reach up just in time and hold his comrade's head back, keeping the teeth away from him even as Irvine pinned him with his hands, his fingernails seemingly having grown longer than the SeeD remembered them being.

Inclining his head to his left, Squall noticed the .45 Calibre lying where he had placed it down to inspect the sharpshooter's body and, reaching out with his left hand, tried to reach for it, but realized that it was out of the range of his fingers. Suddenly, Irvine nearly managed to bite him, but out of instinct, Squall raised his left hand again, pushing the taller boy's head away from his neck.

Trying very hard to take controlled breaths despite the situation, Squall knew that he wouldn't be able to hold Irvine off for very much longer. The gun was out of the question, since he couldn't reach it and if he even tried to move towards it, Irvine would take the opportunity to follow through with his attack.

Bending his legs at the knee, Squall positioned his feet so that they lay flat against the sharpshooters stomach and pushed hard, causing the taller male to fly over head before he lifted himself up off the ground using his elbows and landed in a crouch. Just as he had steadied himself, he heard a sickening crunching sound and turned to find Irvine lying in a position the human body shouldn't normally have been able to position themselves into.

Slowly approaching the body, Squall noted that the sharpshooter had landed awkwardly onto his neck, having it bent in a very odd angle. One of his arms was bent back at the elbow in the opposite direction it would normally have gone, and his left leg mirrored this position with its knee. Even if the fall hadn't damaged his spinal column, Squall was positive that the corpse wouldn't have been much of a threat after that.

Moving back to retrieve the nearly-forgotten .45, he returned to Irvine's body and began searching through the pockets of his fallen comrade's trench coat. Irvine was a sharpshooter and had experience in handling any kind of firearm. Naturally, he'd have adequate ammunition with him at the worst of times.

In the end, his search had proved fruitless. Irvine wasn't carrying any clips that would be suitable for the .45 Calibre or the 5.7 and 9mm. However, he managed to retrieve two P14-45 LDA's and a USP45 within the folds of the jacket. Ammunition was positioned in other adjourning pockets, probably separated so Irvine didn't accidentally grab the wrong kind of ammo.

After retrieving all three weapons and placing them on his own person, he discovered Irvine's trusted riffle off to the side, where he had originally been lying before attacking. Checking his pockets, he also discovered his assortment of custom-made ammunition, mostly fire ammo. Rising to his feet, he retrieved the riffle before returning to Irvine's side and obtaining as much ammunition as he could possibly carry. Unfortunately, Irvine hadn't held his weapons inside of holsters like anyone else would have, having stashed them within pockets of his trench coat instead, and Squall wasn't about to rob the corpse of the beige jacket. He felt bad enough that he was stealing weaponry, but he would need it in order to survive.

He placed some of the ammunition within his pockets, attaching others onto clips attached to his belt. The P14-45's went into the holsters the .45 Calibres normally sat in, the remaining .45 sitting in his pocket amongst the ammunition. The USP was positioned on an unoccupied place on the belt, and he held the Exeter by hand, as there was no room for it elsewhere.

He unconsciously thought back to when everyone had all been together and alive, just before things went wrong for all parties involved. Zell had warned them, had told them that those things could turn anyone into one of them, and all they had to do in response was to get bitten or scratched by those monsters. Irvine had proved that theory correct when he had climbed back up onto his feet once those canines had gotten through with him. Squall wondered vaguely what would happen if someone hadn't been killed upon initial contact with those things that had become infected, and thought back to the movie he had watched with the others. If Zell had been right about those things turning people, and that information had come from a tacky movie, then it was possible that other elements in said movie could be true as well.

Nevertheless, Squall didn't want to test his theory by allowing those things to get their hands on him and, once he was done reloading and everything was positioned in a convenient manner, Squall took one last look at Irvine before making a visual sweep of his surroundings and moving onwards, Exeter held firmly in both hands.

The SeeD Commander crept cautiously through the corridors, weapon raised and eyes open, searching every inch of the area visible to him, and even some places that weren't. As he combed through his surroundings, he found himself lucky to have avoided infection up to this point. All he needed to do now was stay focused, find the others, report his findings and get everyone out of the building. Hopefully, they would be able to clear a path to the waiting Ragnarok and return to Balamb, to report what took place in Esthar and possibly come up with a plan to stop it.

Suddenly, something caught his attention from behind and the SeeD swivelled around, Exeter pointed down the hallway. He had made certain nothing was out of the ordinary as he continued on down the hall, and he was surprised to find that he had made such an error. The only option that he could think of (besides of course, them popping in out of thin air, of which he was unlikely to believe at all) was that they had been following him all along, keeping behind him and converging on the places he had already marked as safe.

Mentally cursing himself, Squall cocked the riffle, keeping his aim levelled and, before he could take in a deep breath, one of those things shuffled out of hiding and began to slowly move towards him. She was dressed in Estharian garb, her marled flesh matching it perfectly as she continued towards him, half her face missing up to the nose, where cartilage was more than visible.

Another man, dressed in the same fashion appeared behind her, in much of the same condition, except his foot was bent at an awkward angle. In his left hand, he held an axe, possibly something he had used to fight off his former co-workers before they had killed him.

Finally, a third man came shuffling after them, but he was dressed in the military uniform of an Estharian soldier, his helmet having been cracked and blood smeared over the bug-like eye pieces. Judging by the fact that he was still walking, the head injury hadn't been powerful enough to keep him from getting back up.

Squall pulled the trigger three times, surprised to find that Irvine had finished with the fire ammo that had been placed within when he had last seen him, and instead, two rounds of normal ammo, followed by a powerful round of AP ammunition shot forward, pushing the SeeD back onto the ground as a shockwave pushed the shuffling workers backwards, and pushing the first two shots forward and watching as they slammed into the heads of the two men behind the female. The third bullet, far more powerful than the original two, landed squarely into the female worker's chest and blew her entire body apart. Her arms landed onto the wall or floor either side of her respectfully, her legs had been shot out from beneath her and crumbled in a useless mess beneath her. Her head and torso fell backward, landing a little ways from her legs, which were, even now, beginning to create a foul mess on the floor.

Resisting the urge to gag, Squall rose back to his feet before wisely checking the ammunition inside the weapon, finding that there were two silver bullets next in line to blast out of the riffle, and a rusted coloured one left before the weapon became empty. Quickly, Squall loaded three more bullets – all fire ammunition – inside of the barrel before snapping it shut and cocking the weapon again. When he looked up from his work, he took notice that another one of those things was moving towards his location, dressed in technical equipment, telling Squall that the communications sector was located on this floor. However, the creature paused before bending down and biting into the remains of the Estharian worker, breaking skin and muscle with his deceivingly dull looking teeth.

Squall had to further resist the urge to gag and chose to leave before more of those things became attracted to the area. He didn't think he had enough ammunition to take everyone else out.

Running down the hallway as fast as his legs could move, he returned to the door they had emerged from, the broken glass still lying on the ground nearby. Squall shivered from the memory and slowly looked out of the window, readying himself to shoot whatever poked its head back at him. He let out a breath of relief when he discovered that nothing was there.

But then where had those creatures gone to?

Kicking the door open, Squall kept the Exeter levelled and inspected the ground to find shreds of material left from what his jacket had once been. Frowning, he bent down, in hopes of finding at least a few more clips for the .45 he carried and found that luck was with him this time. Two clips had managed to survive, the rest probably having been kicked down the gaps between the stairs from when those creatures had dominated the area. Rising to his feet, he added the clip onto his belt before making his way slowly down the stairs, keeping his back against the wall so that nothing was able to creep up onto him. Even as he turned corners, the Exeter was raised and it was then that he decided to remove one of the P14-45's from within the holsters located just above his boots.

Bending down slowly, but ready to jump right back up given the circumstances, Squall did just that, the cold metal of the gun handle fitting in his hand. Even as he rose to stand at his full height, he checked the ammo supply, nodding as he realized Irvine hadn't actually used the weapon. He figured the same for the other P14-45, but he recalled Irvine having fired rounds from the USP he possessed. He'd have to check the clip when he wasn't slinking around a stairwell.

Just as he reached the landing of the fifth floor, he heard something and froze, both weapons raised in the direction he was facing. A moment went by where nothing happened and, just as he was about to move on, he heard something from above and shifted his position, both weapons facing at either set of stairs. Yet another moment passed before anything else was heard and Squall frowned thoughtfully, trying to figure out exactly which sound was closer.

He received his answer a moment later.

One of the creatures he had been trying to avoid for the better part of the hour was converging on his location from the stairs descending downwards and, when Squall turned to shoot at it, he noticed another one of them, and another, until it appeared as though the creature had rallied a pack. A sound from above caught his attention before he could pull the trigger and Squall noticed the exact same thing from that vantage point.

Squall wasn't the type to run away from a fight, but he wasn't stupid either. He knew when it was time to make a tactical retreat. So rather than start shooting at the creatures and waste his ammunition, Squall pulled the door open and jumped backwards through it, shooting at one of the creatures, who had gotten far too close to the SeeD's liking.

The teenager landed roughly onto his back, against the wall on the side facing the door. He staggered for a moment, trying to keep his footing, before looking down and realizing that, despite the rough landing, he had maintained his grip on his weapons. He didn't stay looking that way for long, especially when he heard the pounding on the door behind him, a door that was unlocked.

_Quistis was right_, he found himself thinking. _These things really are stupid_.

He placed the P14-45 back into its holster on his left foot, still gripping the Exeter tightly in his hands. As he began to move away from the door, he heard the familiar moaning and groaning and, turning around, he realized that there was another large group of the things following him. It was almost as if they had been luring him into a trap.

_Okay… maybe not so stupid_.

Upon figuring that he was outmatched by number, he turned down the hall at a dead run, even as the monsters continued to shuffle towards him. However, before he could make it very far, when his foot made contact with a section of the floor, the ground disappeared beneath him and he barely had the mindset to grab a hold of the ground with his left hand, the right still holding the Exeter, before he fell completely through the trapped door. It seemed as someone had taken out the section of the floor and reinstalled it so that when a select amount of weight was placed upon it, the trap would spring and force whatever it was to fall through it.

_I'm pretty sure that this wasn't here before…_

Squall felt a bit of weight shift from his right foot and watched, to his horror, that the other P14-45 had fallen out of the holster and towards the ground – right where an even larger congregation of people turned monsters were gathered.

If this was Hyne's idea of a joke, he wasn't laughing.

Above, he could make out the creatures moving towards him and, even though they moved slowly, he suddenly got the impression that time was speeding up when it shouldn't have been. His frown deepened as he looked back down upon thousands upon thousands of those creatures below, all roaming about and eating each other. His features distorting into disgust, he made a quick visual sweep of the room below and realized that he was dangling above the cafeteria.

Nope. He definitely wasn't laughing.

Focusing on remaining calm, Squall mentally weighed his options. He was hanging approximately fifty feet above monsters who wanted to make him their next dinner and, quite possibly as a result, turn him into one of them. One hand was tightly gripping the floor he had just fallen from, and probably wouldn't hold out for much longer, while the other was holding onto one of his comrade's weapons like a life-line, possessing no junctions whatsoever, with more of those things, on the floor he nearly fell from above his head, looming towards him and preparing to make him their dinner as well.

Judging by the predicament he was in, he could either A, jump down or B, pull himself up. If he chose option A, he would risk breaking his neck, and possibly killing himself. If he died that way, they couldn't turn him, but the fact of the matter was that he was dead anyway. If he chose option B, he would have a better chance of survival, but those things would be a lot closer than they were before, and he would be hard-pressed to get away from them without being scratched or bitten in the process. But there was no guarantee that he would be able to lift himself up onto the upper level with just his left hand. He would have been able to, if he was holding onto the ledge with both hands, but, regardless of how much upper-body strength he possessed, he knew his wrist would snap under the pressure and thus he would wind up taking option A as a result.

Frowning thoughtfully, he didn't want to have to kill himself in order to escape those things, but he didn't have a lot of other options as well. His grip was beginning to loosen and, due to the increasing volume of the moaning coming from above, he knew they were closing in. He'd have to make his decision fast.

Quickly scanning the room once more, he finally spotted a platform leading nowhere over to his left. There were pipes leading from underneath it to the ground below, and possibly even past that, telling the SeeD that there was some sort of tunnel underneath it. Where it led, he didn't know. More pipes stretched from one end of the room to the other, barely six feet above the small platform, but a long way to the very bottom floor of the room. The platform itself was about twenty feet from the ceiling, but it was about thirty feet away from him. He wouldn't be able to jump the distance, not even junctioned would he be able to make the feat. It was his only option, and he was hard-pressed for any other solution.

The only way he would be able to make it over to that location would be if he cast float onto himself, but he couldn't drop the Exeter. The only option would be to allow his grip on the floor to release all the way, but that would make him plummet to the ground below. He would have to act quickly, meaning he would have to have the spell ready just before he cast it, and if he screwed up, then he was most certainly dead.

He took a deep calming breath and it was then that he realized he was downright terrified. When he had watched the movie with the others, he had been on the verge of falling asleep, it had been so terrible. He hadn't been able to get into it like the others had, but now he couldn't quite stop the shaking panic that was building in the pit of his stomach.

Looking back up, he noticed that the monsters had arrived at his location and they were beginning to reach down and grab his gloved hand, drooling at the sight of it. It was then that Squall made his decision and he let go, beginning to plummet towards the ground of those creatures.

Finding the spell, he desperately threw it out in front of him, the float spell dissipating before it could fully take form. He didn't have time to cast another one and reached out instinctively, grabbing a hold of the oversized pipe and holding onto it, forcing himself to stop in mid descent. Fortunately, none of his weapons had fallen this time.

Trying desperately to catch his breath, he looked back up in time to see the monsters suddenly falling down through the hole after him, and dropping into their brethren below, crushing them as they landed before more of the monsters began to make a feast out of them. Squall couldn't help but think that it could have been him had he not wisely stopped his descent and involuntarily shuddered at the thought. Using both his arms with the Exeter still clenched tightly in one hand, he pulled himself up onto the top of the pipe and, after attaching it to his belt in hopes that it would stay put, he began to crawl towards his destination, while thinking back on exactly what had just happened.

_Why didn't the spell take its complete form?_ Squall wondered to himself, trying to keep himself balanced despite his current position. _It should have worked. I should have begun floating almost instantly. So why did the wings appear and then suddenly break apart?_

His unease increased, and he found himself fighting against the panic that was beginning to threaten to take over. He couldn't lose control, not now, especially not while he was nearly fifty feet above the monsters who were after him.

_A few more feet… _he guided himself mentally, trying to focus on anything but the creatures looming beneath him. _Just a few more feet and you'll be on solid ground again._

As he grew closer and closer to the platform, he increased his movement, being careful not to fall off the pipes he was using as a balancing beam. He feebly wished that none of this was happening, that this was all some stupid dream he would wake up from. That Zell, Kiros and Irvine were still alive, and that he was still working in his office, reading the reports given to him by the excavation team positioned in Esthar. That Quistis would barge into his office, Selphie and Rinoa in tow, and tell him to get the latter two to stop pestering her to go shopping with them. That Rinoa would look at him with those mischievous eyes and plot a way to force him to tag along as well. Hell, he'd even give anything for Ellone to send him to the past through Laguna again or to be fighting against Ultimecia and believing he had imagined their victory over her.

_Anything_ was better than this hell.

His left hand slipped off the pipe and the suddenly movement unbalanced the teenager, resulting in his sliding off the side. He had barely been able to reach up with his right hand, and grabbing a hold of the pipe with his left, thus stopping his descent and forcing him to dangle above the creatures once more. He bit back a curse as he chanced a look down, still seeing the monsters congregating beneath him. Turning to the side, he also noticed that the platform was nearly beneath him. He if swung himself in the general direction, he could make the landing.

The first traces of hope tightening in his gut for the first time in a little while, Squall shifted his weight backwards before shifting it forwards, his feet beginning to sway beneath his frame. He did this a few more times before he began swaying entirely, his hands firmly gripping the pipe as his body moved forwards, then backwards, and repeated the previous action.

Finally, when he had enough momentum, as he was beginning to swing forward, he allowed his hands to release their grip on the pipe and began to fall. This time he welcomed it, hoping that he wouldn't come up short.

Unfortunately, he realized that he wouldn't be able to make it and, instinctively reached out with both hands, his arms landing over the surface of the platform and the edge jabbing into his diaphragm, knocking the wind out of him and forcing him to draw in a shaking breath. He managed to pull himself up onto the surface and, after making a quick check, discovered that he had not lost any more ammunition or weapons.

Sighing in relief, he moved away from the edge, not wanting to chance another look down, and began to search for an entrance to the tunnel he had spotted. Sure enough, he found it, located directly in the center of the platform, covered by a metal plating with lines that crisscrossed continuously, only leaving small rhombus like shapes between each line.

Squall recalled being told by one of the Presidential Aids earlier in his stay, that the cafeteria level had originally been the top floor of the building, but once Adel had come into power, she had ordered the building be raised slightly, which was how the total number of floors had reached the number nine. The platform he stood on currently was all that had remained of the original roof, but he had no idea exactly where the tunnel would lead him.

_There's only one way to find out_, Squall told himself and, grabbing at either end of the metal plating, began to pull with all of his unjunctioned strength. The plating bent a bit, but other than that, it didn't budge.

Frowning deeply, Squall considered another option in getting through the tunnel. He had a lot more ammunition than when he had split up from the others, but not enough that he was comfortable with. Those creatures below him outnumbered him, a few thousand against one. He didn't give himself illusions of killing them all with what he had. Without anyone with him, there was no way he was getting the plating open, it was an impossibility. His only option was to sit tight and hope that someone found him. It was an option he didn't like, but there was very little else he could do.

Just as he had resolved himself to waiting, however, he heard something from above and instinctively looked up, unhooking the Exeter from his belt and pointing it up, even as he bent down and unholstered the remaining P14-45. Something had been up there, but there was nothing now.

Frowning slightly, Squall continued to search the area. He knew that it couldn't have been those things wandering around; they were too slow. The canines were a possibility, but he doubted they knew how to walk on ceilings, what with it defying the laws of gravity and all.

This thought reminded the SeeD of the movie and, as much as he wanted to avoid thinking about it, it was his only guide. There had been a creature at the tail end of the movie that could walk on walls with its claws. It had been a human once, but had been experimented on with the virus that had caused the mutation in the movie, having had the virus injected directly into its living tissue. It had mutated into something horrible.

Zell had called it a Licker, and Selphie had talked about it before they had all split up. Squall remembered seeing it in the movie, and he didn't want to have to face it in real life.

Just as he was beginning to relax, he heard the sound again, this time much closer. Turning to look, he recognized five claw marks indenting the wall and, with a sinking feeling, he realized he would not get his wish. He raised both weapons once again, searching with his eyes, looking for the creature. The platform itself was about thirty feet wide, twenty feet long, but the entire room itself was huge. The creature could hide anywhere and Squall wouldn't be able to get to it without climbing down from his perch and, with the mosh pit down below, that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

He saw something move from the corner of his eye and turned towards it, weapons levelled in its direction, only to find that nothing was there. His breathing increased until he was taking quick shallow breaths, which were beginning to hurt his chest and lungs, and as he continued the fruitless search, movement was made from the corner of his eye once again, and slowly, he turned around to see what it was, thinking that he might be able to catch a glimpse of it before it moved again.

The only thing he saw was a tongue about two feet wide and eight feet long and it was circling around his neck.

Out of reflex, Squall ducked just as it made to wrap itself around him and rolled out of the way, dropping the P14-45. When he stopped, he raised the Exeter, levelled it before the creature and almost swallowed his tongue in his shock.

The creature was at least three times his own size and twice as wide. It had no skin, only muscle was obscuring from view its internal organs, and its huge jaw was wide open, revealing elongated teeth, it's long, curving tongue hanging out of its mouth. It possessed opposable thumbs on its large hands and feet, long claws protruding from each finger. Its brain was quite visible and was probably the only thing that hadn't been mutated, but its face was the most frightening in Squall's opinion.

It possessed no eyes.

The Licker dropped onto all fours before charging towards Squall, the SeeD dodging to the left when the tongue darted out and dented the concrete surface. Squall didn't stop to assess the amount of damage done, and was already back on his feet. It was then that he realized he had dropped the remaining P14-45 and it was positioned behind the Licker, who was seemingly watching him intently, and Squall got the feeling that it didn't need eyes to be able to see him perfectly.

Sure enough, the Licker leapt again, missing as Squall ducked and rolled out of the way once more, the creature landing onto the wall, its claws keeping it steady. The SeeD figured that it was his chance to retrieve the fallen weapon, but even as he made a dive for the P14-45, the Licker snapped its tongue out, the appendage stretching out far longer than the original eight feet Squall had previously seen it. The tongue hit the weapon and Squall watched helplessly as it careened over the edge, falling towards the monsters below.

The tongue wasn't done yet and, as soon as it had pushed the weapon out of Squall's range, it snapped back up, intent on stabbing the SeeD and pinning him onto the solid cement ground, only the SeeD's reflexes were faster, and he once again rolled out of range of the creature. The Licker roared, which sounded more like a shrill animal's screech and Squall had to cover his ears with both hands in order to save his hearing. He was positive that the apparent battle cry had gotten the attention of the creatures below, because the moaning seemingly increased ten fold.

The Licker retracted its tongue and scaled the wall, seemingly well aware of its advantage over its prey. Squall hefted the Exeter and took aim, but before he could pull the trigger, the Licker launched itself away from the wall, and prepared to pounce on the SeeD. Squall aborted his attack and rolled out of the way once again. He climbed back onto his feet before scrambling to create more of a distance between the mutated creature, onto to slip and fall face first into the cement when something grabbed a hold of his leg. Turning back around, he recognized the object as the accursed tongue. Rather than reel him in like the SeeD thought it would, the Licker lifted its tongue up into the air and threw him, forcing him to skid towards the opposite edge of the platform. Squall had the mindset to grab a hold of the edge with his right hand to stop himself from going over, the left hand still tightly clutching the Exeter.

The Licker, seemingly not please with its prey's resourcefulness, used its tongue to wrench free the metal plating and threw the object towards the SeeD, but Squall managed to manoeuvre his body out of the path of fire, hearing as the metal plate crashed onto the ground below. He figured that the object had also managed to take out a few more of those things as well.

The Licker easily crept towards him, its long powerful legs able to use speed to its advantage. Squall decided at that point that Lickers were obviously the more intelligent of the trio of monsters he had been forced to deal with so far and, before he was able to move out of the way, the tongue grabbed him by the leg and hoisted him up before throwing him towards the edge of the platform.

Once again, Squall's reflexes managed to save his life, and he managed to grab the edge of the platform before he could plummet towards the ground below like the two P14-45's and the metal plating had.

_Wait…_ Squall's mind went back a moment and he realized that the Licker might have given him a way out. The metal plating had been covering the tunnel Squall had been examining earlier. He hadn't been able to pull it off, but the Licker had ripped it off as though it were nothing but a plaything. If he could get around the monster, then he'd most definitely be able to slip through the tunnel and escape. It seemed as though the platform was no longer a save place for him to be.

_But how do I get out of this?_ Squall wondered, feeling the vibrations as the Licker crept forward, probably having finished playing with him and intending to eat him. _I can't risk casting a spell; what if it doesn't work? I'm not junctioned, so I can't just heft myself up onto the surface._

The Licker continued to creep closer, its long tongue curving back and forth as it closed the distance between them. Squall caught sight of the tongue and an idea flew into his head.

The Licker's tongue slid forward, waving closer and closer towards Squall's position and, with a final attempt at keeping the contents of his stomach where they belonged, he hoped that his plan would work.

The tongue wrapped around Squall's upper torso and hoisted him up from the end of the platform before hovering him over its gaping mouth, its jaw stretching at impossibly large proportions, preparing to swallow the SeeD whole…

Squall aimed the Exeter at the mouth of the creature before firing.

The powerful AP ammo shot forward, blasting into the Licker's mouth and blasting Squall upwards, forcing him to fly up and land roughly onto his back behind the Licker, the breath knocked out of him as the Licker clawed at its mouth in pain. Squall pulled himself up into a sitting position, trying to will the stairs out of his line of vision as quickly as possible. The back of his head hurt as well, but when he placed his hand on the cranium, it came away clean, so he knew he hadn't cracked his skull.

Pulling himself up onto his feet, he looked back to see the Licker was beginning to recover from the attack, and nearly dropped his jaw when he took notice that the creature had been mostly unaffected by the attack, the bullet having lodged itself into the surface of the platform they stood on, deeply too from the looks of it.

_Either I missed or it moved at the last second_. Squall thought to himself in shock and indignation. _Either way, it shouldn't have happened_.

The Licker turned to glare at him, and when it opened it's mouth, Squall felt a wave of self accomplishment. The tongue had been drastically shortened, the end being reduced to a blackened stub that was bleeding profusely. Unfortunately, it was still longer than any tongue had the right to be, but it was shorter than it had been.

_At least the shot did something…_ Squall found himself thinking before he made a run for the tunnel, the Licker snarling and coming after him as he did.

Squall chanced a look back and saw to his dismay that the Licker was quickly closing in, so he took careful aim, hoping to hit the creature this time, and fired, another AP bullet blasting from the barrel and nearly forcing the teenager to fall forward. The shockwave pushed the Licker backwards a few feet. He didn't stop to see whether the bullet hit the monster or not, and continued running towards the tunnel, a screeching noise answering the question for him.

He made it to the tunnel opening, and found that it was roughly the circumference of his width if he were to stretch his arms to either side. It was too small for the Licker to fit through, and was his ticket to survival. Just as he was about to take the plunge, the lights overhead began to flicker, changing from bright luminescence to a dim spark of its former glow. He waited for a moment before the bulbs shone in one final brilliant radiance, and suddenly went dead, darkening the surrounding area's even more than they already had been.

_Same to you, Hyne,_ Squall thought bitterly. The familiar sounds of the Licker approaching caught the SeeD's attention and he jumped in, well aware that he had almost been, once again, grabbed by the tongue of the creature. He cocked the Exeter and fired, only to have a regular bullet shoot out and lodge itself into the creatures muscle. At the same time, he suddenly found himself stopping in his descent, and when he went to check, he realized that something had caught onto his shirt. He tugged at it desperately, wanting it to rip and drop him the rest of the way down the tunnel. Anywhere but with the Licker.

His attempts became more desperate as the seconds ticked by and, when he looked back up to see what had happened to the Licker, all he saw an obscured creature blocking the tunnel of what little light shone through the Cafeteria. He caught something moving, and he tugged harder on his shirt, hoping to rip it and get as far away from that tongue as possible.

The tongue inched closer and closer, and Squall knew that time was running out. He knew that it was dangerous to shoot the Exeter within the confines of the tunnel, knowing perfectly well which ammunition was slotted next, but he didn't care. If he was going to die, he might as well take out the creature following him.

And he'd rather go out in a pile of ashes than be bitten and reanimated by those creatures.

Squall cocked the riffle once more before taking careful aim, counting backwards from three and squeezing his eyes tightly, prepared for the worst case scenario.

Well, at least no one else would run into the fucker.

Silently saying his goodbyes to the others, he placed his index finger over the trigger and pulled.


	11. From Bad to Worse

_A little government and a little luck are necessary in life, but only a fool trusts either of them.  
_- P.J. O'Rourke

* * *

The tunnel lit up with the residual energy that came with the flame shot. A bullet pierced out of the Exeter, but as soon as the oxygen in the surrounding area came into contact with it, it exploded into a single shot of fire, mixing in well with the steel properties of the projectile.

The flame shot burst once again, separating from one burning projectile into five slightly smaller variations, all of which slammed right into the Licker's face, engulfing the monster and setting it aflame. It's screeches of pain filled the previously silent room as it backed away from the tunnel, the flames still visible over top of the hole leading inside of the tunnel.

The sleeve that was caught on a piece of the tunnel ripped audibly, pain lancing through his upper arm as he suddenly began to descend, the flames falling after him in the aftermath of the blast, leaving one shoulder near completely bare.

All three things occurred at the exact same moment, in the span of a moment it takes to bat an eyelash.

The SeeD slid down the pipe leading downwards and suddenly decided that jumping down a hole that didn't appear to have an ending to it upon first glance wasn't such a great idea after all. His arm was throbbing, and whenever the pipe curved, Squall found himself colliding roughly with a corner before continuing his descent.

After hitting a third corner, the dark haired youth found himself sliding upside down, facing back in the direction in which he had fallen from. It wasn't a comfortable position for him, having to crane his neck in order to see behind him. The flames were no longer following him, but he didn't hold any illusions that it would remain that way and, soon enough, he found that behind him the pipe was beginning to get brighter. Just before he hit another corner that propelled him back the way he had jumped in he noticed the smothering pile of burned debris that was following him. The Licker must have fallen in after the flame shot had consumed it's entire body.

After what felt like an eternity, Squall finally saw an ending to the winding ride and he fell from the tunnel a good four feet before hitting the ground and tumbling away from the opening just as the monster landed onto the ground with a sickening thud.

Squall lay where he had landed on the cement floor, desperately trying to catch his breath, breathing through his mouth in order to avoid smelling the rotting burning decay that lay no more than a few feet away. He didn't dare move to inspect the creature in case it was still alive. Bullets hadn't killed it, even when he had hit it in the face.

After a moment, he managed to force himself into a sitting position, intending on examining his left arm. There was a long cut along his upper arm, starting from just below the shoulder and stretching diagonally down the bicep, ending halfway to the elbow. It was still bleeding, the skin having been torn when he had finally been freed from the piece of the pipe that had held him just inches from the Licker's grasp.

Trying not to think about it, Squall frowned thoughtfully as he inspected the wound, keeping an eye open just in case he was attacked by the creature. He didn't have any potions to heal the wound, nor did he have any kind of first aid kit in store to clean it. The fabric that had been torn away from his shirt was probably a burned mess by now, having remained near the top as he had begun plummeting down the hole, so he didn't have anything to bandage it up.

Taking in a deep breath, he slowly let it out as he came across his final option. Magic. It had failed him earlier, the spell dissipating before it could completely take form, but right now it was his only option. He couldn't risk infection, especially since he had no idea where he was, or whether his surroundings were sterol.

Positioning his hand over the cut, he closed his eyes and searched his mind for the appropriate spell, taking in calming breaths as he hoped it would work that time. He found the spell and immediately felt a warm soothing feeling dance along his arm, the healing properties of the cure spell working to stop the bleeding and to close the wound, at least partially.

When the spell was finished, Squall dropped his hand and breathed a sigh of relief. Whatever it was that had prevented him from using magic was apparently wearing off and, as Squall rose to his feet, he realized that the Licker wasn't getting up anytime soon. He went to examine it closer, just in case it was still alive and simply couldn't move, but after a couple of steps he was forced to abandon the action, covering his nose with his right hand as he took a few steps backwards. The Licker had reeked something awful before, but now it smelt like someone had somehow managed to mix any and all forms of items that stank foul all into one. It was something Squall believed should be prevented at all costs, and yet here it was, lying in front of him, lifeless.

When he was back far enough that he couldn't smell the corpse nearly as well, Squall hesitantly removed his hand and wiped his eyes of the water that had built up due to the odour. Running an hand through his hair, he bend down, trying to look up into the pipe without having to stand over the rotting corpse, but couldn't see a way back up to where he had come from.

From the fifth floor to the… what floor is this anyway?

Squall took in his surroundings for the first time since he had landed and was surprised to find noticeable differences from the Presidential Residence to where he was at the moment. The walls appeared to be made entirely out of cement, the floors mirroring the same substance, and were layered with dirt, moss and some other stuff Squall didn't really want to have to identify. The room he was standing in currently had no other exit, besides a small gap that possessed no door. He had no idea where it would lead him, but it was his only way out of the room.

_Exactly what I thought about the pipe…_ Squall thought to himself bitterly. _Wonder where _this'll_ lead me._

Taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly (despite the smell) he walked out of the room, making sure that all of his ammunition and weaponry was still with him.

That was one good thing that had happened to him so far.

He walked straight for a little while through the dark cavern, folding his arms across his chest when he became cold, still clutching the Exeter in his gloved hand. He knew it wouldn't do him any good, but he wished he had been able to save his jacket. If those things didn't kill him, then the cold and dampness of this place would.

His thoughts trailed back to the others, wondering how they were doing. Whether they were still alive, or if they had been attacked by now, he didn't know. He had seen the scratches on Irvine's face and held no illusion that he wouldn't have turned had he not been killed by the dogs, and he pitied the sharpshooter. Either way, he had been screwed. But as far as he recalled, no one else had been bitten or scratched, so there was still hope for them…

_Right_, the SeeD thought pensively. _Unless of course they get bitten and scratched along the way_.

He didn't know how he was going to tell the others about Irvine. He wasn't the best candidate for relating bad news. Normally he'd just blurt it out as though he were making a report on a standard mission. He knew that wasn't the way to divulge such sensitive news to the rest of the group (assuming that they were all still alive), and he would have to come up with another means.

After a few minutes of walking, he came to another entrance way, the arched gap much larger than the one he had walked through previously and, upon reaching it, he stopped in his tracks, taking in his surroundings.

There were two pathways on either side of a large moat of water, rushing towards his current location. The pathways led straight down but from where Squall was standing, he couldn't make out exactly how far down he would be travelling. If it hadn't been for the tell-tale smell, he would have thought himself to be back inside of the Tomb of the Unknown King, located Northeast of Deling City.

_I'm traveling through a sewer… that just tops off my night…_

Moving towards his right, Squall managed to find a ladder that would position him atop the platform (he wanted to avoid jumping into the murky sewer water at all costs) and began to make his way down the winding path, weapon at the ready just in case he needed to use it.

Nothing happened. He kept his eyes trained on his surroundings, his hearing focusing on the natural sounds of the sewers, just in case he heard something out of the ordinary from behind and he couldn't see it off hand.

But nothing happened.

Not at first, at least.

It was when he had followed the curving platform around the first bend towards the right when he heard a strange noise. The sound was too distant to make out clearly, and , levelling the Exeter, he reached into his pocket for the .45 and whirled around, taking aim but finding nothing following him. After a moment, he slowly turned back around and continued on his way, weapons raised in case it happened again.

Some time later, he heard the noise again, only this time it was coming from his left. Turning only marginally and aiming the .45 in the direction it had come from, Squall kept his eyes trained on the rest of his surroundings, in case it was merely a diversion.

_I need to stop thinking as though those things can come up with complex strategies. They're not intelligent enough to be able to form a thought let alone a plan._

Still, the senses had been drilled into him since basic training, and forcing himself out of this particular habit was like forcing himself to become socially interactive. It was a possible tactic, but it would be difficult to accomplish.

The sound became louder, and when Squall listened to try and identify it, he realized that it was miniature squeaks. Raising an eyebrow, he slowly continued straight, hoping to avoid an encounter with anymore zombified type creatures.

_So you're calling them zombies now?_ His mind chastised him and Squall shook himself of such thoughts. Zombies didn't exist. It was illogical. True, there were monsters out there who were classified as undead creatures, and they were easily dispatched by healing type magic, like cure or regen, or curative items, like potions, but these creatures were far different. Unlike the looming beings who were trying to feed off the survivors of this incident, the undead monsters he had fought off in the past had been capable of intelligent thought patterns, poisoning their prey with magic and other abilities in the hopes of weakening them. These beings could hold the world's simpliest and deadliest weapon and still not know how to use it.

Shaking himself out of such thoughts, Squall tried to focus on his current situation instead. The squeaking sounds were slowly approaching his position and, even as he continued moving ahead, he could hear them converging on him from the path he was currently taking. Keeping both guns ready, he quickened his movements, the clanking of his steel-toed boots pounding off the cement beneath his feet.

The SeeD Commander took in deep breaths, trying to reign in his thoughts and desperately willing himself not to panic. That was the absolute last thing he needed given the circumstances. He had gotten away from the Licker creature, as well as a mound of those creatures who had been looking at him as a meal. If he remained calm and focused, he'd be able to get himself out of the trouble he had managed to put himself into.

It was when he turned another junction of the winding pathway and chanced a look around that he finally discovered what it was that was following him. The creatures were very small in size, less than a foot in height, and probably just over a foot in length. The hair that combed their bodies looked coarse and weathered, as though something had tried to rip their skin off their very backs. Their tiny four legs managed to make them move far faster than it appeared at first glance, and their long noses stuck out in front of their faces, whiskers at either end twitching as they sniffed the air around them. Their beady little eyes appeared hallow, even lifeless as they continued scurrying down the tunnel after him, their tails dragging behind them as they did and their teeth glinting in the near no-light surroundings.

Unlike humans, these creatures could thrive in this sort of environment, the darkness masking their presence as they scurried about searching for food and shelter. They were mostly harmless, if you weren't worried about tetanus or rabies, and because of their size, they could squeeze into practically any crevice they could find. Perhaps this was why they were called what they were:

Sewer rats.

Squall immediately began the process of backing up. It wasn't that he didn't like rats. Normally, he wouldn't have really cared. It was the fact that they looked (and smelt) half-dead that put him on alert.

First humans, then dogs, and finally half-dead mutated creatures. The thoughts that ran through the SeeD's mind were so bitter, he could taste it in the back of his throat. Of course there'd have to be rats.

He quickly turned and ran the length of the platform, the small rodents racing after him in hopes of catching a meal. It didn't occur to the teenager to start shooting at the creatures, and even if it had, he didn't have the ammunition to take them all out. It would have just wasted precious bullets, and he couldn't afford to do just that.

Even as he climbed up another ladder and continued further down a northern junction, the small creatures kept chasing after him, and Squall wondered briefly if they would give into exhaustion eventually before immediately squashing that thought. If they didn't register pain, what was to say they would eventually tire out? All they did or cared about was eating!

When Squall focused his attention in front of him, he immediately stopped in his tracks, nearly stumbling forward by the action. More of the critters were approaching him from the opposite direction, their dead eyes gleaming in the darkness as they moved. The SeeD turned back to see the rats continuing to converge on his position, from either end, with the only way around them being through the murky water to his left.

Looking around desperately, Squall noticed a pipe directly overhead. It was thinner than the one he had grabbed a hold of in the cafeteria, but he wasn't complaining. Without further thought, he jumped up, grasping its circumference with both arms, and hauled himself up before the rats could cling onto him. He bent his legs at the knee, creating more distance between the ground beneath him as he continued to pull his weight onto the metal object. The rats swarmed over where he last stood and he bleakly wondered just how long he would be able to hold out like this.

He received his answer when the pipe shuddered under his weight.

Cursing mentally, he didn't have a chance to even string a thought together as the whole pipe broke apart from the rest of its section, forcing the SeeD to fall to the ground below, landing roughly onto his back. The rats that hadn't been flattened by the added weight on their backs immediately responded, converging on him as a drowning victim would grab a hold of a floating board and Squall quickly rose to his feet, stepping on and throwing off the miniature creatures as quickly as possible, trying desperately to avoid being scratched. The vermin were tenacious and continued to come after him, even after he had managed to free himself of the ones that clung onto his t-shirt, ripped by their seemingly long nails, but thankfully without having them ripping into his skin in the process.

Squall wasn't watching where he was backing up, concentrating solely on keeping the rats from biting and scratching through his jeans, t-shirt and leather gloves. When his foot met with empty air having reached the edge of the platform, Squall's weight became unbalanced and the SeeD Commander unceremoniously fell into the sewer water with a large splash, taking some of the rats with him.

When he made it to the surface, the first thing he noticed was that the rats had lost their grip on him and were failing to surface themselves. Splashing around in the water, Squall tried to discern up from down, having become disoriented by the fall as well as the waves that had been caused by said fall, treading water as he searched. The current he had fallen into was stronger than it had been when he had first discovered his surroundings earlier, and he managed to hit his back against the steel bars that made up the gating of the tunnel. Shaking his head slightly, he was finally able to come to the conclusion of which direction was up and swam the width towards the opposite platform, never failing to notice that the rats were jumping into the water after him, falling beneath the surface and not coming back up.

Squall doubted very much that this would stop the dead creatures and, as soon as he was on dry land once again, he ran back the way he came, hoping to at least take advantage of the head start he had gained as he jumped passed the ladder positioned in front of him, landing onto his feet and continued to run.

However, even as he turned the corner, he ran into something solid, but did not fall back down. Instead he immediately pushed back against a man dressed in mostly yellows and browns, his head caked in dried blood as his milky gaze was fixed on the dark haired teenager. He leaned forward, his blackened stubs visible as he opened his mouth to bite his victim. He would have succeeded had Squall not immediately pushed back against the dead man's head, keeping his teeth at bay before an audible crack was made, the man falling limp into the SeeD's arms and very nearly overbalancing him at the same time.

Squall dropped the body and continued heading in the direction he was facing, looking back only to see that the rats were surrounding the still body of what he could only guess to have been one of the sewer workers. He just hoped he didn't run into any more down of them there.

He didn't stop running until he found a path leading into another corridor, ducking behind the corner to still his breathing. He reached for his weapons, but as soon as he grabbed a hold of the USP, he noticed dismayed that his hands were still trembling from his recent encounter. He gripped his right hand with his left and mentally willed the shaking to stop. He was panicking, and he couldn't afford to panic at a time like this. He closed his eyes, counting backwards from ten and was relieved when he noticed the shaking subsiding, if only slightly. Taking in gulps of air, he managed to return his heartbeat to normal before examining the weapon, all the while concerned with what this entire situation was doing to his nerves.

He frowned when he unloaded the clip from within the USP, cursing the sewer water as he found that the charge was completely soaked. He threw the weapon away in disgust, not having any more ammunition to fill it in, as he examined the .45, surprised to find that the weapon was, in comparison, only a little damp. Opening the clip, he was astonished the find the clip was bone dry and replaced it into its compartment, dropping the weapon into its holster as he examined the Exeter. While the riffle was wet, there was a water proof container installed within the barrel of the weapon, positioned there to keep the bullets from getting wet and, therefore, preventing any misfire from occurring. He figured Irvine had had this done in case he was forced to travel through watery areas.

Whatever the reason, he was thankful the sharpshooter had thought ahead.

He had started with four weapons, having run out of bullets for the first three and nearly depleting his final clip for the lone weapon left before pilfering his dead comrade (he still felt bad for having to do that) for whatever weapon reserves he could find. He had lost two out of four of the guns he had secured, and waterlogged the third, leaving only the original .45 and the custom made riffle as his only defence.

Checking his belt, his frown deepened when he discovered that they were empty; the ammunition having fallen out during his impromptu swim in the sewers and he cursed aloud at his misfortune. The only bullets he had left were already loaded inside of the weapons. Six out of ten bullets for the .45, and two fire ammo for the Exeter. He didn't like his odds in the least.

_Now I'm back where I was hours ago_. Squall thought to himself bitterly. _How am I going to get out of this one?_

Just as the thought crossed his mind, he heard footsteps approaching from nearby. He cursed under his breath before he flattened himself against the wall, retrieving the .45 from its holster and placing the Exeter against his belt. He couldn't afford to use up all of the fire ammo, because they seemed very affective against the creatures and he'd need them for later, so his best bet was the weapon he had the most ammunition for.

Taking a shuddering breath, Squall nodded to himself reassuringly as the footsteps became closer. He had very little ammo remaining, and very few options to choose from. If it came down to it, he could always take himself out and prevent them from turning him into a flesh eating monster like themselves. At least then, he wouldn't attack any of the others, if they were still alive. It would be a last resort. He'd keep a bullet or two left in the .45 and if he found himself trapped with no other option, he'd use them.

The footsteps echoed in the quiet tunnel and Squall prepared himself to step out and to shoot his pursuer. He'd have five bullets left to work with, at least two of them reserved for later, but it wouldn't matter if he couldn't get himself out. Counting from three, he stepped out and took careful aim, his right hand positioned over his wrist, taking in the appearance of the being who had by then stopped moving.

He was dressed near completely in black, the trench coat making it seem that way. He wore black loafers on his feet, not entirely adequate for a trip to the sewers. He wore a blue dress shirt and black pants with thin white stripes running vertically from the cuffs to the black belt he wore. His short dark hair was the only thing frazzled about his appearance, and the sunglasses he had worn when they had first met were gone, his light eyes drawn back in shock. Positioned on a strap secured around his left arm (probably from the shoulder; Squall couldn't tell since the trench coat was blocking it from view) was a MP5K sub machine gun. Along his waist were four holster, two on either side, were 45 LDA's, and there was no doubt in the teenager's mind that the man was further equipped closer to his shoes. In his hands at the moment was a Steyr TMP sub machine gun, however rather than pointed directly at the SeeD Commander, it was positioned off to the side, the barrel pointed more to the ground. The only indication that he had come into any contact with those things were the scratches and tears in the nearly immaculate materials he wore.

Squall didn't lower his weapon despite the relaxed state the man before him had taken. The SeeD kept his eyes solely trained on the weapon held in the man's grasp and, after a moment, he appeared to realize this before raising both of his hands into the air. "It's okay," he said when the tense silence continued. "I'm not going to shoot you."

It was at the sound of his voice that Squall finally relaxed. After having seen one of those things carrying an axe, he hadn't been at all convinced that the man hadn't turned. Since they weren't exactly known for their ability to speak intelligibly, he had just asserted that he was normal.

_Yeah, but for how long?_

Still gripping the weapon in his left hand in case those creatures came after them, Squall addressed his attention towards the male standing in front of him. "Why did you come down here?"

"Isn't it obvious?" the man asked. "I was looking for you."

Squall's confusion must have shown on his face, because the man cleared his throat as if to explain himself. "Those things overran my business colleagues, and soon I was surrounded by all of them, but I managed to get out without harm. I thought about leaving town, but when I thought about it, it made sense that the whole city would have been overrun, including the residence. Since I obviously couldn't walk through the front doors without being trampled on, I thought that there might be a secret passage through the sewers."

"How did you come to that conclusion?"

"With this." The man pulled from his pocket a small handheld device and Squall instantly recognized it as a palm pilot. The screen on the PDA revealed a sort of floor plan, and, from what Squall recalled about the paths he had taken, he came to the conclusion that at the moment it was showing them the floor plan of the sewer system. "One of my co-workers has a contact that works with the Estharian government. He received a downloaded file that involves the schematics of the entire city. I narrowed it down to the sewers, figuring that there had to be a tunnel leading into the Residence."

"There's one that leads out of it," Squall stated, taking a close look at the screen. "I just came from it."

"Well that was rather lucky," the man said. "I can take us back the way I came from. Another of my colleagues said he could have a transport waiting for me within the next three hours, but I told him that I wasn't leaving without you, and since I've found you already, we have more than enough time to make it there in order to leave."

It took a moment for the SeeD to suddenly realize that there was, in fact, a way out of the city. That there was an end to the madness besides dying. If this man was right, they'd be out of the city within the hour.

But what about the others?

If he left now, he would never know if they survived or not. And if they were still alive, he could never live with himself, knowing he had left them behind at the first opportunity for freedom. If he was cracking under the pressure of defending himself against these creatures, he didn't want to imagine how the others were holding up, how Rinoa was holding up.

Taking in a deep solid breath, he knew what he had to do. "I'm not going."

The man looked at him as though he had grown a third eye in the middle of his forehead. "Squall, this is serious –"

"And so am I," Squall deadpanned. He had made his decision. "There may still be people alive in the Residence."

"That's ludicrous! Even from the building's front door I could tell it's been overrun. I doubt that anything could survive in that."

"I did. And there's still a chance that the others did too."

The man was about to argue further, but Squall cut him off. "You can go to the transport if you want to. But I'm not leaving my friends behind to fend themselves off against those things."

Sighing, the man frowned thoughtfully, and Squall vaguely wondered what it was he could possibly do. He was running very low on ammunition, and by the time he found his way back to the surface, there was no telling how much he would have left to defend himself. But he didn't care. If at least one other person was still alive, he wasn't leaving them to fend for themselves.

Even if it was suicide.

"You do realize that this is sheer madness," The man stated in front of him before checking his watch. "We have approximately two hours before my contact secures a transport and if we're not there by then, he leaves without us."

Squall was about to argue back, but this time, he was cut off. "Nevertheless, I do understand your drive. It's the same one I had when leaving my colleague. Very well," he pulled out the MP5K from his hip holster and tossed it towards the SeeD, who caught it with both arms. "I trust that you're running out of ammunition? If that's the case then you'll need that," he pulled out two out of four of the LDA's and handed them to the teenager, "and these. They have a full clip inside, so you shouldn't need to reload right away. Shots to the head, in case you didn't know."

_Trust me, I know._ Squall didn't voice his thoughts aloud. There wasn't time.

The man seemed to understand that time was precious, so he immediately shifted the PDA between the both of them, so they could both see it. "We need to head east from here and veer towards the south in order to find the hidden entrance to the Residence."

Once Squall acknowledged the information, the man spoke again. "I trust that this is nowhere near the time to introduce myself as you're 'good-old-dad' to the rest of your team if – when – we find them."

Squall nodded in agreement before the man continued. "So, for the meantime, if you so desire, you may address me as my alias…"

Once again, Squall's confusion must have given him away, since the man trailed off. "What? You thought I could get a descent job given my past record? I had to officially change my identity, in order to make a living." Clearing his throat, he continued once more. "So, up until this whole mess has been dealt with, you and your friends may call me Nicholas Griffith."


	12. Reunion

_You can't get where you want to go if you don't know where you are.  
_– Anonymous

* * *

Selphie had the distinct feeling they were wandering around in circles.

Shaking her head to rid herself of such a thought, she scowled at herself. Selphie was not known for her pessimism, she was the group cheerleader. She had to keep everyone focused on the task at hand. She had to keep everyone's frame of mind intact, or else everything was going to hell.

But if even the cheerleader was beginning to panic, what exactly did it say about their dilemma?

Selphie removed such thoughts from her mind as she, Sir Laguna and Quistis continued down the hallway with weapons raised and their backs against the wall. Selphie was at point, with Sir Laguna holding up the rear and Quistis stuck in-between. She didn't have time to have any doubts, because at least two of their comrades was still trapped inside of the building and they needed to find him before the zombies did.

If they hadn't already.

_Squall's gonna be fine._ Selphie thought to herself as the trio began to move once again. _He was the last one standing against Ultimecia. He was the one who led the charge against both her and Adel, and he even led the Garden battle in Centra. He'll be okay, and he'll know what to do when we find him._

_Yeah, sure… _A voice in Selphie's head sounded. _He's prepared to take out a whole shitload of zombified Estharian workers, soldiers and civilians. Squall's not a miracle worker. He even said he didn't have a contingency plan against those things! What makes you think it's different now?_

Selphie took in a deep breath and exhaled, knowing that the predicament was taking its toll on everyone. Over half of their starting party was gone, and one was presumably still alive unless they either found him ripped apart, or he came after them and attacked them – just like everyone else in the damned building.

They had reached the stairwell that would have normally led them downstairs to the first floor, but rather than head towards the exit, they climbed the stairs to the fifth floor, hoping to find some sign of the SeeD Commander. So far, all they had run into were the run-of-the-mill zombies that they had already met up against, and Selphie was hoping that they wouldn't run into a Licker anytime soon. She still couldn't get the image of that monster tongue out of her head.

_Quisty is _so_ lucky that she didn't run into that thing…_ Selphie thought to herself before pausing, looking back towards the former instructor. _Yeah, lucky… if you count being infected and turning into one of those things lucky…_ she amended silently.

Upon taking a good look at the eighteen year old, Selphie felt a wave of sorrow fill her up inside. According to the blonde SeeD, she had been attacked earlier that evening, and when they had met up again, she had looked all sickly and pale. It definitely reminded her of that character from the movie, about how determined she had been to stay alive and to help out. Even when she was losing her eyesight she still tried to help out her team-mate.

There was no doubt in the Trabian-raised SeeD's mind that Quistis would be the same way, not giving up, but the depression that seemed to have suddenly appeared in the elder girl scared her. The fact that she even asked them to leave her alone so that she wouldn't hurt anyone had worried her as well. It wasn't like the SeeD to give up.

Sir Laguna had told her along the way that there might be an antivirus, and had relayed the explanation they had received from Schipner before losing Ward. In Selphie's opinion, knowledge was power, and the more of it she had, the more comfortable she felt.

_Now if only we knew where Squall is…_

They came across another hallway that lead to a dead end, a wall at one end and a door leading inside of a room on the opposite side facing the wall. Nothing further beyond stood before them. The corridor ended there.

After a moment of silence, Quistis' voice, weakened due to the infection, cut through it easily. "Maybe he's in there."

Selphie hoped so. The Presidential Residence, a building that had struck her as the most beautiful place she had ever been to in her entire life, was suddenly really very creepy, and she couldn't help but break out in gooseflesh, yet she was travelling with other people. She didn't want to even think about what it would have been like all by herself. Since she was at point, she raised her hand to signal the other two to stay where they were before she grabbed a hold of the handle to the door, took a deep calming breath and turned the knob, granting her access within the room.

It didn't look any different from the others that they had been inside of, despite the size. It looked more like a classroom than anything found in a building of business. _Then again,_ Selphie silently argued, _this might be some kind of staff room or something…_

The room was dark given the time of night and the lack of power; the walls a lighter shade of grey that told the small SeeD they were white under normal circumstances. There was a huge table in the back of the room with a booth at the end of the wall curving from the very end towards the right hand side. On the left hand side were a few chairs, but some of them were lying on their backs, as if the people in the room were forced to run out of it quickly. There was a counter off to the side and a fridge – possibly for bringing drinks or food from the cafeteria and storing them inside.

Selphie took a few steps into the room and looked around, her eyes having long since adjusted to the dark. There weren't any shadows for any of the monsters to hide in within the room, so it looked safe at least. Looking up at the wall, she noticed what would have been an electrical clock on the wall, but the blaring red numbers weren't alight, compliments of the lack of power.

Frowning, the diminutive SeeD looked out the window aligned on the side. Without a moon, there was no way for her to tell exactly how late it was, though there were a lot less stars out there than the last time they had seen the outside. All things considered, Selphie was surprised that time was moving so quickly when it felt like it had been ages since everything had been normal.

Stepping out of the room and allowing the door to close after her, Selphie shook her head towards Quistis and Laguna, signalling that they had no choice but to head back in the direction they had come in.

* * *

After what felt like an eternity of walking, Quistis heard the tell-tale signs of those creatures moaning nearby and stopped walking, even as Laguna and Selphie did the same. Both raised their weapons and Quistis readied herself, just in case she was needed to cast a spell. So far they weren't having any luck on finding Squall whatsoever, but Quistis wasn't willing to give up unless she saw him dead or undead.

Soon after the sounds began, the creatures came out of their hiding spots, and Selphie fired a shot from the LDA she was holding, the piercing sound of the bullet being fired from the barrel echoed in the near silent hallway even as Laguna began to unload a clip into their pursuers. Quistis quickly cast protect spells on all of them, hoping that they would last long enough for it to make a difference and called forth her own magical abilities, helping Laguna fend off the creatures that were piling in through the hallway. The end of the hall had been blown apart – probably from the explosion of the cafeteria down below – and Selphie wasn't having a problem blasting apart the things that crawled out from the remaining of the floor.

"We can't stay here!" Laguna shouted over the machine gun fire.

"We can crawl through here!" Selphie shouted from her position and, when Quistis turned to look, she saw the younger girl making her way towards the ledge. "Those things can't touch us with the protect spells."

"But we don't know how long they'll last!" Quistis protested, but Laguna, having stopped shooting, grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the remainder of the hall.

"We'll just have to hope they last, won't we? We sure as hell can't stick around."

Quistis went to protest but, when she heard the sound of the moaning things increase in volume, she opted to follow her companions towards the remains of the floor, her back pressed against the wall as she slowly but steadily continued to move.

"Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to blow up the canteen…" she heard Laguna mumble beside her even as the zombie creatures made their way towards them.

"Shit!"

Quistis heard Selphie curse and, when she looked to see what the problem was, she felt her throat sink further. More of those things were converging and Selphie wouldn't have enough fire power to fend for herself. Quistis and Laguna could lend a hand, but not without one or both of them falling into the room below.

Even as the thought crossed her mind, the former instructor looked down, her eyesight blurring slightly – from the infection or the lack of her glasses she didn't know – but she didn't see anything move down there. When she looked up, she realized Laguna was thinking the exact same thing.

"Selphie!" Laguna shouted and, when he caught her attention, he inclined his head in the direction of the ruined cafeteria. Selphie stared at him for a moment before nodding her assent and, after a moment, the trio jumped, Quistis quickly casting float on her comrades and herself before taking the plunge herself, the white wings strapping themselves securely onto their shoulder blades and allowing for a graceful descend.

Suddenly, her magic failed and all three of them landed roughly onto the ground, Selphie accomplishing a full summersault before landing roughly onto her backside, whereas Laguna just barely managed to land sharply onto his leg. "What just happened?" Selphie said after a moment where the only sound accompanying them was the zombies' moaning from about.

"I don't know…" Quistis frowned, pulling herself up onto her feet, even as her legs threatened to give out on her. She was suddenly very tired, and feeling very sick to her stomach, but she refused to let it get to her. If there was an antidote, she wanted to get her hands on it – even if it was too late for her.

Taking a look around, she realized they were back where Selphie and Laguna had found her, on the bottom level of the cafeteria, which was now a mess of broken bodies and debris. She wasn't sure anything could get back up after an explosion that left this much damage in its wake, but judging from her experiences of the past few hours, she wasn't betting on anything anymore.

Her vision swam again but Quistis stubbornly blinked a few times, and it steadily returned to normal. The blonde SeeD frowned, despite the return of her sight. The intervals were becoming shorter and it was getting harder to focus on objects anymore. If the spread continued at this rate, she would be blind in less than an hour.

_And helpless…_ Quistis' frown deepened. _That's exactly what we need. Blind within an hour's time, and who knows what'll happen after that_.

She clenched and unclenched her fist, wishing that she had grabbed a hold of Save the Queen before she had left her room that night, but she understood that what was done was done. Though she didn't want to die, she didn't want to die useless, and was determined to help the others out as much as possible before she started craving them as an appetiser.

_It's ironic that I haven't even eaten anything since lunch… _she thought before squashing it. Cannibalism was not on the list of things she wanted to take interest in and she was fairly certain that, if she did come out of this alive, she was turning Vegan.

"We'd better keep moving…" Laguna said, breaking her line of thinking. "We shouldn't stay in one spot too long."

Nodding, Quistis and Selphie followed the former soldier towards the exit, but before they could leave, the familiar moaning sounds crept up on them and forced all three of them to turn around. The zombies were emerging from the cafeteria, some having lost limbs to their comrades, and one was even crawling, his legs having been rendered useless.

"How are these fuckers still alive?" Selphie shouted in outrage as she gripped the MP5K around her neck tightly.

"It's quite the trick," Quistis agreed.

"They're stubborn, I'll give them that," Laguna nodded. "But we can't stick around."

As he whirled around, however, more of his former employees stumbled into the doorway and one of them reached out to bite Laguna. The president pushed the zombies head back even as two others converged on his position. Selphie rushed in to help pry the zombies fingers off the Galbadian raised man while Quistis concentrated her Blue Magic and went to aim at the thing.

Unfortunately, her vision began to blur, badly this time. Nearly growling in irritation, Quistis shook her head and blinked, but found that it was only helping to thin out the fog. The people in front of her were nothing but big blurs, and she didn't know where one of the zombies began and where her friends ended. She continued to blink, hoping that her vision would return to her, but after a moment, it was only beginning to make things worse.

"Quisty!" she heard from in front of her; the voice belonged to Selphie. "What are you waiting for? Shoot them!"

"I…" Quistis felt her voice tremble more than heard it but despite her best efforts to control the panic that was steadily rising she couldn't steady it. "I can't! I can't see!"

She heard moaning, lots of moaning and it was no longer coming from in front of her. She could hear them coming from her left, and though she was positive it was her imagination playing tricks on her, from the right and behind as well. She tried casting a scan spell, but she felt the sparks of her magic fail before the info-vision that was granted with the spell could take hold of her. She had just become whast she'd been afraid of being – blind and helpless.

She felt a hand grab a hold of her arm and struck out instinctively, feeling her open palm smash into the face of one of her attackers, even as another grabbed at her other arm. The panic she felt continued to rise until she thought she was going to scream, but a loud piercing sound, much like a gun being fired, sounded loudly and one of her attackers released her, followed by another gun fire and the loss of the other grip. More gunfire was heard around her and she assumed that Laguna and Selphie had dealt with the zombies attacking her and had come to her aid.

Suddenly, someone else grabbed her even as the shots fired changed from single charges to consecutive spurts, but before she could move, he felt her arm being draped onto someone's shoulders and recognized Laguna's voice from right beside her. "Are you alright?"

She felt tears stream down her face at the very mention of her wellbeing and she shook her head. "I can't see! My sight! My sight is getting worse! I couldn't see, and I couldn't use magic, and –"

"It's okay, Quisty." This time it was Selphie speaking to her. "It's okay, don't worry about it. Sorry I yelled – I didn't know."

Suddenly, the gunfire stopped and footfalls – two pairs from the sounds of it – could be heard approaching quickly. After they stopped, one of the two newcomers spoke and the voice was very familiar to the former instructor. "What happened to her?"

"Squall?" Quistis asked, hoping that it wasn't her mind playing tricks on her. "Did we find –?"

"No," Laguna interjected. "_They_ found us."

"They?"

She looked up from where she was forcibly standing and took in the two new blurs. One of them was white and black – that one had to be Squall. But the other one was unfamiliar to her. This blur had dark hair, and was dressed in black all over, but other than that she couldn't make anything distinguishing out.

"She was infected," Laguna said after a moment, and Quistis assumed he couldn't answer her question just yet. "Earlier this evening."

"If that's the case," the unidentified blur said, his voice distinguished. Judging by the accent, she guessed that he was from somewhere in Dollet. He pulled his arm back and began to pull something from somewhere and Squall stepped in between them. Judging by his stance, Quistis assumed that something would have happened to her had he not moved.

"You're not killing her," Squall's voice was firm, and most people knew not to argue with him on any subject that brook that tone.

"If she's been infected for that long, then there's probably no hope for her," the stranger countered.

"Probably. That doesn't mean indefinitely."

A brown and yellow blur – Selphie – stepped beside Squall, further blocking his path. "There's a cure!" she said. "There's a way to reverse the process! Let's find it before we jump to insane conclusions!"

"If she dies, then she'll come back like those monsters," the stranger argued. "It'd be best to put her down now before she causes trouble later. Don't torture her by letting her live like this."

There was a moment where no one spoke, and Quistis vaguely wondered how much time they would waste arguing like this. She felt Laguna shift his weight from one foot to the other and knew that this was even beginning to try on his patience.

"I think," Quistis said, even as she tried to steady herself away from the veteran soldier. Clearing her throat when it cracked from fatigue, she stubbornly raised her head to address the three blurs standing in front of her. "I think that the decision would be best served... if it came from me, don't you?"

This seemed to set the stranger off guard because he began to sputter a retort. However, Quistis didn't allow him the opportunity. "I've already made an agreement with Laguna and Selphie, so let me just tell you this. In the event that I turn, that I," she resisted the urge to empty the contents of her stomach at the sheer thought and merely swallowed before continuing, "that I try to attack any one of you, you will stop me before I can hurt anyone. Those are the conditions to me traveling with any of you. Otherwise feel free to leave me behind. I could really care less."

She didn't know how she could sound so sincere having said what she had, and knew that she would rather not be left by herself, but she didn't want to be surrounded by people who weren't comfortable with being around her in the state she was in. She would be hurt if they did leave her, but she would understand.

No one said anything, not right away at least. From what limited vision she still possessed, she could tell that she had shocked them with her decision, but she hoped that they would make up their minds soon. If she was to be left behind again, she could just hide out in the kitchen until she was overwhelmed or she turned on her own.

Finally, after what felt like a small eternity, someone spoke. "We won't have to," Squall's voice came in that firm tone again, and Quistis wisely chose not to argue the meaning behind his words as she saw him turn towards Selphie and Laguna. "You said there was a cure?"

Selphie nodded – Quistis assumed she did anyway – before answering verbally. "We watched a recording that said this whole mess started out as some kind of new epidemic, only the citizens didn't take the warning too seriously and ignored it. When it got too out of hand the medical team started working on an anti-virus,"

Laguna jumped in to continue. "But we don't know where it is. The people making the message were attacked and I'm guessing that they didn't have the time to tell us before they were overrun."

_You mean if they could tell us…_ Quistis silently amended feeling her hope dwindle a little bit. She refused to let it show however, and instead took a staggering breath. "Well, that anti-virus isn't going to wait forever now is it? Now I'd suggest we stop bickering and get a move on before more of those things decide to congregate around here."

"Good idea," Squall said and it looked as if he were looking around for something. Her heart sank for him when he turned to the rest of them before addressing his concern. "Where are Ward and Rinoa?"

Quistis turned her gaze to the ground before directing a look at Selphie, who was quiet for once. Laguna was also remaining silent. The former instructor closed her eyes, knowing fully well that he deserved to know what had happened. She could tell that their silence was unsettling, and she cleared her throat before he could repeat his question. "Ward was with Laguna and Selphie after we split up. Rinoa and Angelo were with me."

"What do you mean…?"

"Squall, I'm so sorry." Quistis clenched her eyes shut, trying to stop the tears that threatened to trail down her face. She had done well to prevent them from falling during the moment and even a little while afterwards, but having to recite everything that happened on top of what else might happen, let alone the guilt she had – the guilt that even now was telling her she could have done something – anything – to get Rinoa to safety. The logical side of her was telling her there was no way she could have separated Rinoa from Angelo, but the emotional side told her differently. Opening her eyes, Quistis forced herself to explain further. "They didn't make it. We're all that's left."

Silence enveloped them after the confession, and Quistis could tell, even without her eyesight, that the news had hurt him. He had finally begun to show signs of extroverted tendencies, all with the help of the Timber Princess, only to have the one person who helped him make those changes snatched away as violently as Ellone had been. Probably even more so.

"Squall?" She heard Laguna ask after a moment of silence. What Quistis wouldn't have given for her vision back… "Are you –?"

"I'm alright," Squall interrupted, and Quistis could still hear some of the pain she was positive he still felt, but he had pushed most of it away, probably to sort out later. "We can't afford to fall apart, not now. But we need to get out of here."

"But Quisty was wrong about us being the only one's left!" Selphie suddenly interrupted. "What about Irvine? Didn't you run into him?"

"I did," Squall answered, and Quistis had a feeling he was about to confirm her suspicions about the sharpshooter.

"Well! Where is he?"

"He turned," Squall answered point blank, probably wanting to avoid to subject entirely. "He was wrong. There were more than one of those dogs up there."

Selphie gave an involuntary squeak of shock, but before she could dissolve in hysterics, Quistis interjected. "Selphie we can't afford for you to break down now. There's still a way out of here, once we get the anti-virus. We'll need our heads about this if we want to stay alive."

"And it's what I've been saying all along," Laguna said. "We definitely _can't_ stay here. But does anyone have any idea where the anti-virus is?"

"I might," The stranger cut in. He pulled something from whatever it was he was wearing, and held it out in front of him at arms reach. "A colleague of mine copied schematics of a map of the entire city onto this PDA." Quistis was certain he had identified the object for her benefit.

"That's how we got through the sewers anyway," Squall said before Selphie cut him off.

"No wonder you need to shower. Phew."

"We ran into each other in a junction." The stranger explained before studying the electronic device. "Fortunately this thing runs on batteries, so we should be alright. It's around four in the morning —"

"Already?" Laguna shouted. "Where'd the time go?"

"—And according to news accounts from last night, the sun should rise within the hour. If anything, it will give us a little more light to work with." The stranger continued, despite the interruption. "The anti-virus might still be where those medical experts stashed it before they were, well…"

The stranger cleared his throat before continuing. "It wouldn't due if their only means of a cure were destroyed during a raid, so it'd have to be somewhere out of place. We'd better get a move on if we're going anywhere before sunrise."

Selphie and Squall took point, or so Quistis assumed, but before the stranger moved passed them, he stopped in front of the former instructor. "I must say, you do have a very strong immune system to have survived this long. When was it did you say you became infected?"

Quistis didn't know why, but she didn't like the tone in this man's voice. Reigning in her suspicions, she tried to make her voice sound as even as possible. "I was bitten at sunset."

The man appeared to nod for a moment before gesturing for Laguna to walk ahead while he covered the rear.

"Hey," Laguna whispered after a moment. "What do you think that was about?"

"Don't know," Quistis whispered back. "But I don't find myself much comfort knowing he's covering out backs. Squall seems to trust him, but for once I think he might be wrong."

"I'll keep an eye on him then."

Quistis nodded slightly, even though it made her head hurt worse.


	13. Sacrifice

_The only way to have a friend is to be one.  
_- Ralph Waldo Emerson

* * *

According to Nicholas when he had asked, they had only been traveling for about fifteen minutes. It felt like it had been longer.

Both he and Nicholas had followed the PDA in the sewers and they had found a flight of stairs that led up. Having had no other alternative, both had begun to ascend the stairs without any complaint. But after a little while, it didn't look like the stairwell led to anywhere and just when he was sure they had gone the wrong way, they had found an entrance to the Residence. Further searching had revealed they were on the upper ledge of the fifth floor.

After a few minutes, they had found an entrance to the second level of the cafeteria, and that was where they had found the others surrounded by more of those things. He had found the stairs and had fired rounds from the LDA that had been, up to that point, unused. Now it was nearing the end of its first clip of ammunition. Nicholas had seemed reluctant, but he had followed anyway, taking out more of them from the entrance of the cafeteria.

Now, he and Selphie had taken point, with Laguna supporting Quistis in the center and Nicholas in the back. Had he not taken the PDA from Nicholas and strapped it onto his belt before moving, he wouldn't have liked the formation, but either way they were stuck. Though not a fighter, he was the only help they had and Squall couldn't afford to be picky.

None of them could.

He checked the time on the PDA, and remembered what Nicolas had said about the transport. Even if they didn't make it, they could infiltrate the Airstation and steal a ship if they had no other option. But at the same time there was no guarantee it wouldn't be overrun as badly as the Residence was.

Luckily, they didn't have to run around in complete darkness anymore. Nicolas had brought a couple of flashlights, probably for travelling through the sewers, and while Selphie had one, the elder man had the other, in case something tried to sneak up on them. It bothered him slightly that a civilian had been so well prepared for something like this, but even Rinoa had known what she was doing in the field when they had to escape Timber.

Just thinking about the girl was enough to bring back the feelings of pain that he carried with him, and he pushed them back down with great effort. He couldn't afford to wallow in self-pity, not with those things creeping around the corridors. He had no choice but to stow it and deal with it later if he wanted to stay alive.

The irony of the situation was not lost on him. Barely an hour before he had contemplated suicide just to get away from this nightmare, and now he was desperately fighting for survival.

_Great_, the sardonic voice in his head muttered. _If I get out of this alive, I'll right a damned book._

Selphie crept around the corner first, to check to see if it was clear before she signalled to Squall that it was safe. He turned around and nodded to the three people behind him before following the smaller SeeD. Footfalls indicated that the others were following him.

After a few more minutes of walking, they approached a room at the end of the hall. Selphie pulled off one of the grenades strapped to her shoulders and, after everyone was out of harms way, she detonated it, and the door blew off its electronic hinges. Both SeeDs stood at the entrance, weapons raised before Squall stepped into the room first.

The room had a large table positioned in the center of the room with chairs sectioned around it's circumference. There were many electronic devices placed on the table, one in the very center of the table and undoubtedly for presentations, while the rest decorated the edges of the table directly in the middle of the seats. Squall guessed that it was just in case someone couldn't make it to the meeting.

"This is the delegation's room," Laguna explained as he entered the room, shifting Quistis onto his shoulder as he moved. "The big shots in the Cabinet come here to argue about every little thing. Gives me a headache at least once a month."

Selphie approached one of the chairs and pressed a couple of the buttons located on the holographic displayer but after a moment she looked up and shook her head. The power-outage had taken out just about everything in the city, excluding battery operated devices. Even the mechanized doors were inoperable.

"So it would seem this room is a dead end," Nicolas said after a visual sweep, and he grinned sheepishly when everyone turned to look at him. "No pun intended, of course."

Selphie rolled her eyes and Squall shook his head in response. Neither Laguna nor Quistis paid him any attention. They were about to leave when Quistis suddenly said, "What was that noise?"

"What noise?" Nicholas asked, all traces of humour having left his domineer.

"None of you heard it?" Quistis sounded surprised. "Then I guess it was my -"

Before she could wave it off, Squall heard it. A familiar scraping noise, like nails on a blackboard, but the surface sounded like plaster or metal. After a moment of silence, Squall managed to find his voice and broke through it. "Was that what you heard?"

Quistis nodded in response and Squall inwardly cursed. He knew the sound all too well. "We need to get out of here, now!"

Neither Selphie nor Laguna argued with him, Selphie grabbing a hold of Nicolas and dragging him to the door even as Squall backed out of the room behind them, the MP5K strapped at his side raised. There couldn't have been more of those things, he'd had a rough time dealing with _one_ of them, and he only had two fire ammunition left in Irvine's Exeter.

Someone suddenly shouted out and Squall turned around, only to see that same thing that had attacked him in the cafeteria was now blocking the only exit in the room. From the simple fact that it was bigger than the one he had killed, Squall wouldn't have been surprised if it had originally been an older sibling.

Selphie immediately released her grip on Nicholas' arm, who looked a whole lot paler than he should have, and started firing into the creature's face relentlessly. Two bullets lodged themselves into the left side of its face, and one went wide, lodging itself into the plaster to the left of the creature even as it bounded forward, its tongue stretched out, though not as long as the one he had killed in the cafeteria earlier.

"The ruddy hell is that thing?" Nicholas shouted, pushing himself as far away from the creature as possible.

"It's called a Licker!" Squall shouted before Selphie could answer.

"So you got unlucky too?" Laguna shouted, even as he found a safe spot to set Quistis. Squall nodded in response and provided cover fire from the submachine gun, bullets imbedding themselves into the muscle and gore that remained of the humanoid figure's skin.

"This guy knows us personally!" Selphie shouted. "It's the thing that killed Ward!"

As much as Squall was relieved that he wasn't the only one who had difficulty with these things, the fact that there had been more than one put him on edge. If he had nearly depleted his ammunition supply against one of them, how much would it take to put another one down?

A scream from nearby tore him from his thoughts and he turned to see more of the dead creatures reaching out towards Nicolas, who had pulled out one of his own 45 LDA's and was firing into the creatures where he sat against a wall. Selphie jumped back out of range of the Licker in order to help Nicholas, while Laguna strapped on an upgraded version of the weapon the SeeD held in his hand.

* * *

Selphie pulled out one of the remaining throwing knifes she possessed and raced forward, standing in front of Nicholas – Squall had said that was his name – as she tossed it into the forehead of an oncoming zombie. Before it fell to the ground, she spun on her heel in a full circle and kicked out, pushing the blade deeper into the corpse's skull and sending it into three more of it's kind. She un-holstered her firearms and, with one in each hand, pulled the trigger alternately, sending steel bullets into her would-be attackers. She detected movement nearby and noticed Nicolas rose to his own feet, a LDA in his right hand as he added his own fire-power.

The LDA she held in her right hand ran empty, followed closely by the other but before she could search herself for more, Nicholas reached into his trench coat and handed her two more clips. Selphie grinned even as she emptied her gun of the bare clips and reloaded them before firing once again.

"I don't know how much longer we can hold them off," Nicholas said. Selphie nodded in agreement. They couldn't afford to waste their ammo on dead bureaucrats, even if they were boring old men. She re-holstered both weapons into their place, and pulled out two more combat knives. Telling Nicholas to stand back, Selphie charged forward, grateful to see there were only four of the dead guys left.

Gripping onto the handle of the knives tightly, Selphie suddenly spun, like she had seen Kiros do in the dream world, and slashed into the front of a zombies face before slashing into other's neck. While the first remained standing, the other fell to the floor and didn't get back up. Selphie suspected that she had hit a vital nerve, but didn't stop to think about it. She slapped the knife in her right hand into the forehead of the first zombie as a third converged on her position. She grabbed a hold of the zombie before it could grab her and, with her hands positioned on his jaw and neck, twisted until there was an audible crack and the zombie fell limp. She turned around and threw the knife at the remaining zombie; the sharp ended embedding itself right through the skull of the creature and the handle sticking out like a spear.

Selphie nodded to herself, glad to have taken those hand-to-hand lessons at Trabia Garden. She turned around, only to see Nicholas rushing off to help the others.

_The shock must have worn off._ Selphie thought to herself before reaching for her own weapon. Just as she was preparing to help her friends, she heard a door opening from behind. She was barely able to turn around when a flash of pain shot up her left arm and she fell backwards, clutching at the fresh wound and cursing at the same time. More of those things were coming from a hidden doorway that probably led to one of the more infected rooms. Why hadn't she thought of it before?

She tried raising her left hand, but found that it wouldn't obey her, and only lay uselessly at her side. Considering the size of the zombie that had attacked her, she wasn't too surprised; the zombie looked like he was built like a brick. The zombie that was leading the way out of the doorway was almost as tall as Ward had been, and he was dressed in an Estharian Military uniform. Half his face was missing and the same could be said about his right ear.

She removed her right hand from her left arm, frowning at the long gashes that ran up from her elbow and grabbed the gun that had been gripped in her opposite hand. She pointed and fired, the bullets imbedding themselves into the first zombie's skull and soon, more of those things were falling, making a pile around her.

When her first weapon ran empty, she tossed it into the face of a zombie and reached for the other, well aware that she probably didn't have any more ammunition after this. With only one working arm, she wouldn't stand a chance with a combat knife, and she wondered if anything could possibly get any worse.

Chancing a glance over towards the others, she realized that the Licker had jumped out of the path of the door in order to sneak up on the others, like it had done before it had killed Ward. It was still in her path however, but the others were distracting it onto themselves.

Frowning, Selphie knew that, had she not seen the slightly shorter tongue on this creature, she would have thought it to be related to the one that she had run into earlier. Then she remembered how it had mutated when it got a sample of living tissue and cursed loudly. If it grew any bigger – if it killed anyone else – they were dead.

Her thoughts immediately turned towards Quistis. If the Licker saw her and realized she couldn't fight back, it'd go after her and then they'd be done for. There wouldn't be a chance of them getting out of there alive, all in sacrifice of someone else.

She rose to her feet, noticing how heavily surrounded she was by zombies, who were slowly limping towards her. Looking behind her, she noticed more of them coming from another secret room, and she knew that there wasn't a chance of her getting out of there. But if she could get everyone else out of the room, she could take them out.

Schipner's message came to mind, and Selphie nodded to herself, assured that this would save the rest of her comrades. Concentrating on her stock of magic, he found a strong spell and threw it at the Licker, knocking it forward just as it had been about to lunge at Sir Laguna. "Get Quisty outta here!" Selphie shouted, even as she summoned forth another spell. "I'll distract it!"

"How do you plan on doing that?" Nicholas shouted back. "Shooting it in the back? It won't work!"

"Just go! I'll be right behind you!"

At least, she hoped she'd be. "Look! That thing got bigger, right? It's because it eats living tissue! Quisty can't defend herself, she needs to get out of here!"

"She's right!" Squall shouted at Sir Laguna, before he could argue. "Get Quistis and Nicholas out of here!"

Selphie silently thanked Squall for taking over. He was better at giving orders than she was, and she didn't want to be in charge even out of these circumstances. With one last fleeting look, Laguna ran towards Quistis, hefted her up and left the room, Nicholas behind them. Whether they looked back or not, Selphie didn't bother to check. All she knew was that the Licker was climbing onto its feet and was slowly turning around, its long tongue curving lazily in the air.

"I'll distract it!" Squall shouted from the other side and Selphie had forgotten he hadn't left yet. "Get over on this side when I've got its attention!"

"Squall, it won't let me! That thing is too quick! If I even move, it'll turn back around and stop me anyway."

Selphie sighed, Schipner's words running through her mind. The knowledge of what the virus could do – what it was doing to Quistis, what it did to everyone else – was heavily set in her mind and from the moment she had heard the words come from the video message she had witnessed, her mind had already been made up. "Besides, I'm infected! One of the zombies rammed me and I can't even lift my arm. I'd only be a burden."

The Licker was looming towards her, and for a fleeting second her determination wavered, but she strengthened it. This was what it meant to be a SeeD, to know what was best for the rest of the team. Most teams didn't have a problem with leaving their people behind if they had no choice. She and Squall had only been SeeDs for less than half a year. Though they knew it on paper, it was different to have to experience it. "You can't talk me out of this one, Squall. Even if I let you help me, we'd_ both _get ourselves killed. Better it just be me than it be the both of us."

For a second, she thought Squall was going to continue this argument and she prepared herself to cast an aero spell just to get him out of the room. But after a second, his voice stopped her from casting the spell. "Alright. But take this with you!"

Something was suddenly flung over the Licker's head, catching its attention, but Selphie was quicker and caught it in her good arm before it could lunge towards her. Rolling back to avoid a swipe from the creature, she took a moment to look at the item she held and when she identified it she very nearly burst into tears.

The Exeter. The only thing that remained of Irvine Kinneas was held securely in her hand. The slightly oversized riffle that he was always flaunting during the war was now in her possession. Squall must have gone back after everyone had split up and found it.

She knew that he hadn't meant for her to use it if she needed to, otherwise, he would have said so. Squall understood that she wasn't going to meet them again, and had given it to her as a sentiment, the only thing she would have to remember the Galbadian Sharpshooter by. Securing it onto her weapon's holster, she nodded her thanks before smiling, despite the situation even as tears began to blur her vision. "Tell Quisty that I'm nothing but a big fat Hypocrite. And don't edit it."

Squall nodded in response to her request and she watched as the last of her comrades left the room.

The Licker turned around as it heard Squall's footsteps, but Selphie sent another flash of magic towards the monster, the Firaga spell nearly setting its neck and back on fire. The Licker turned its attention towards the small SeeD and the girl backed up against the wall of the room, noticing the window nearby. She figured that it had to be four thirty in the morning by then, but time could move achingly slow when it wanted to.

_C'mon Squall… get out of range…_ Selphie mentally prayed, hoping that this would take all the zombies out. Thinking back on it, she knew that _nothing_ would be getting out of the room.

The zombies were getting closer, and the Licker had climbed up onto the ceiling, probably preferring that advantage over it's prey. The moaning creatures were within arms reach and if she didn't hurry, she would be the only one dying where she stood.

Finally, she threw out her good arm, a blue field of magic flashing past the zombies, and she prayed that she had hit her target before she turned her attention towards the horde that was on the brink of converging her.

"You want a fucking meal?" She shouted. "Then you're gonna have to learn that sometimes you can't get what you fucking want!"

She reached down with her good hand and grasped the Exeter tightly for a brief second before she bypassed the weapon and grabbed a hold of a small hand held device with a small red button on top of the stick like object. Only one would go off, but then that was all that was needed before a chain reaction would start.

"If I'm gonna fucking die," she shouted, tears falling freely from her face, even as the creatures reached out for her. Even as the Licker's tongue reached out for her. Even as the last of her comrades disappeared from sight.

Her face set itself into a tight smile, thinking about Irvine's expression when she asked him about what he had said when she got to see him again.

And as she depressed the detonator, she concluded her last words to the only crowd who were around to hear them. "Then I'm gonna stay fucking dead!"


	14. Confession

_Arthur Dent: You know, it's at times like this, when I'm stuck in a Vogon airlock with a man from Betelgeuse, about to die of asphyxiation in deep space, that I really wish I'd listened to what my mother told me when I was young.  
__Ford Prefect: Why? What did she tell you?  
__Arthur Dent: I don't know. I didn't listen._

__

_

* * *

_

The explosion had been the only thing to stop them from running and Laguna frowned when he saw chunks of debris and broken plaster back in the direction they had come from. Quistis appeared to have known what the blast had been. She wasn't asking any questions, but Nicholas looked like he was about to have a heart attack.

Honestly, Laguna didn't blame him. Selphie and Squall hadn't follow them out of the room, and now that an explosion had taken out the hallway without either of them making any appearances, he was beginning to worry as well. Even as the dust was clearing he was sorely tempted to pass Quistis over to Nicholas to check and see what had happened, but the fact he and Quistis didn't exactly trust Nicholas in the first place was the only thing keeping him rooted to the spot.

When the smoke and dust had finally settled, panic threatened to override logic when he saw the entire pathway had been blockaded. Broken plaster, metal and rubble sectioning the room off from everyone else. The thought that they had lost both of them was almost too much for him, but Laguna took in a deep shuddering breath and tried to calm himself down.

After a moment of silence, both he and Nicholas started towards the debris, but one of the pieces of plaster moved, forcing both to stop where they were. Laguna grabbed at the MP7 while Nicholas pointed a 45 LDA at the wreckage, both of them waiting for whatever it was to claw its way to the surface.

"What's going on?" Quistis asked, but Laguna ignored her, his eyes focused on the moving object in front of him.

_Please don't be the Licker_, Laguna mentally prayed. _Please be anything but the Licker_.

Finally, the plaster gave way, and as soon as Laguna and Nicholas took in the sight, they lowered their weapons. Nicholas rushed over and grabbed a hold of the human hand that had pushed at the rubble while Laguna gently set Quistis down and went to help. Finally, both were able to pull Squall from the wreckage who appeared, for the most part, to be fine.

Suddenly, the weight of the rubble shifted, burying the path Squall had made to the surface and surrounding all three of them in a sheath of dust and smoke. Laguna figured that Squall must have done something to keep himself alive, and because he moved the whole thing just caved in.

"What's happening?" He heard Quistis' voice, weakened from the infection, from behind the thick layer of smoke and all three of them made their way back towards her. "What's going on?"

"Well, we found Squall," Laguna said grimly. Never had he felt so worried in his entire life, only to have relief flood through him. At least Squall was still alive. "What happened?"

"Exactly what I'd like to know," Nicholas added. Laguna wondered vaguely why he didn't like the fact this man was asking him those questions, but shrugged it off. As soon as they found the anti-virus and left, he wouldn't have to see Nicholas again for as long as he lived. "Shouldn't we wait for your friend?"

Laguna noticed that upon mentioning his comrade, Squall's features darkened slightly. Before he could ask about it though, Squall shook his head. "She's not coming."

"What do you mean, 'Selphie's not coming'?" Quistis broke in, struggling to stand on her own but to no avail. Eventually, Squall walked over and allowed her to drape her arm over his shoulders. "What happened back there?"

"The explosion," Squall answered. "She stayed behind so we could get out."

"She detonated the bombs?" Laguna asked, and Squall nodded in response.

"She took everything in that room out with her in that explosion. I think she did it so she wouldn't come back as one of those things. She told me she got infected shortly before…" he trailed off, shaking his head slightly. "But we can't stick around here. The explosion might have attracted unwanted company."

"Then let's get a move on," Nicholas said. "The sooner we find the cure, the sooner we can all get out of this bloody building. If you're going to carry her, you might as well hand me the PDA."

Laguna wanted to argue against it but he couldn't come up with anything that wouldn't waste anymore time than they already had. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't continue carrying Quistis for the rest of the journey, and he couldn't read a map worth a damn either. He didn't trust Nicholas with either the PDA or Quistis, but he didn't have a choice in the matter. "Lead the way."

Nicholas turned his attention towards the small hand-held computer in his hand before nodding and pointing straight in front of them. "If we head this way, we might be able to get to safe ground. We can figure out what to do next once we get there."

"Wait a minute," Squall suddenly said, and when both Laguna and Nicholas turned to him he looked as though he were concentrating.

"What's the problem?" Laguna asked.

Squall didn't answer right away, instead he focused his gaze on the ground in front of him, his frown deepening the longer he thought. "What is it?" Quistis finally asked.

Squall finally looked up and directed his attention towards Laguna. "Say you managed to create some sort of medical cure for an outbreak this bad. Where would you stash it?"

Laguna was taken aback by the question and he stuttered in an attempt to collect his thoughts. It was a nervous habit he had taken to since taking the position of Presidency all those years ago. "I dunno… somewhere where those things couldn't break it?"

Squall then directed his gaze towards Nicholas. "What about you?"

The only satisfaction Laguna received was that the question had put Nicholas off guard almost as badly as it did him, but he managed to compose himself and answer faster. "In a lab," he said, looking like a monkey doing a math problem. "A basement… somewhere unwanted hands couldn't get to it."

"In case you were about to ask," Quistis broke in. "I'd put it somewhere no one would expect it to be."

"Exactly," Squall nodded, and for a moment Laguna thought he'd seen the teenager smile. "Somewhere no one would think to look. An out of the blue place to put it, maybe even where someone could find it if they thought about it for a moment."

The thoughtful expression returned on the SeeDs face even as Quistis appeared to piece the puzzle together. "Somewhere we'd overlook because it was too obvious, perhaps?"

The thought expression disappeared and was replaced by one that reminded Laguna of a mathematician solving a complicated problem. "I think we need to head to the infirmary."

Laguna hid the confusion from his features, but Nicholas looked almost shocked at the revelation. "Of course! Brilliant!" He swivelled to look at Laguna, beaming from the thought of it. "We didn't think to search the infirmary because it is a place of healing. If someone where to stash something of healing somewhere, that'd be the most obvious place to put it."

Laguna wanted to kick himself. The idea was so obvious, how could they not have figured it out sooner? Maybe if they hadn't been so quick to deny what was happening, the others would have survived longer than they had.

But now wasn't not the time to be thinking about that.

"What's the fastest route to the infirmary?" Laguna asked.

Nicholas took a moment to check the PDA before answering. "We need to turn left and follow the path. The infirmary is the next floor downstairs."

Nicholas started down the hall at a jog, despite the loafers he wore on his feet and Squall followed after him, supporting Quistis' weight at the same time. Judging by her appearance, Laguna figured she didn't have much time left, so they'd have to hurry.

From there, they continued straight until they ran into another junction, where they took another left and continued straight from there. When the path ended, they found the stairwell he, Quistis and Selphie had taken earlier when they were looking for Squall, and headed down the stairs where they took a right and continued straight.

At first, Laguna had been thankful that they hadn't run into any zombies during their search for the infirmary. But as time continued on, he started to wonder exactly why they weren't attacking them. They had gone down the path before, and run into tons of the creatures. But now the stairwell and hallway was desolate, empty. It was like something was telling the creepy-crawlies to hold back until something happened. Whatever it was, Laguna didn't like it.

He turned his attention towards the teenagers walking ahead of him and frowned. From what the others had told him, Squall had a tendency to follow his instincts, which normally got them out of bad situations. It was kind of the opposite of Laguna's gut – most of the time he was wrong, so Kiros, Ward and even some of the staff at the Residence always did the opposite of what his gut told him.

_But why does he trust this guy?_ Laguna thought to himself, watching Nicholas stop to look at the PDA once again before continuing to head straight. _My gut's telling me that he's bad news, and Quistis seems to agree with me, but why isn't Squall putting his guard up? We don't know much about this guy in the first place and yet he's willing to give him the benefit of the doubt?_

Though Laguna was a trusting man at heart, he didn't believe in co-incidences. Something must have happened for Squall to not question Nicholas whereas Laguna and Quistis wanted to find out his motives.

"You know," Quistis' voice broke his through his line of thoughts and he couldn't help but listen into their conversation. "We're not even positive that the anti-virus is _in_ the infirmary at all. I was there earlier, with Rinoa, and we didn't see anything out of the ordinary."

"It doesn't mean it's not there," Squall said. "You weren't exactly looking for it earlier, right? And even if it's not there, we won't stop looking for it. We should change your bandages though, at least while we're there."

He indicated towards the bandage sitting just above her elbow. The gaze and material of the bandage were no longer thick enough and were beginning to show the blood that was stubbornly leaking through. "We'll find it, Quistis. I'm sure of it."

"The infirmary should be just up ahead," Nicholas broke in, turning to look at them. "Let's just hope it's there, shall we?"

Laguna frowned, but nodded all the same. It was no use being pessimistic, but he didn't want to get his hopes up just to have them crash down.

Within a couple of minutes, they found the entrance to the infirmary, the doors having been left open despite the automatic failsafe that kept them shut, and Laguna didn't know whether to be on guard or to jump for joy. It seemed too easy to him, to just walk in there and look around for an anti-virus that might not have even been there.

Squall approached the doors and stuck his head inside. After a moment he came back out and picked Quistis back up off the ground.

"I'm really beginning to resent being used as a rag doll…" she muttered under her breath.

"Sorry," Squall muttered back before addressing Laguna and Nicholas. "We'll be inside. If we're not back out in a few minutes, check in on us. Otherwise, stay out here and keep your eyes open."

Even as Nicholas nodded, Laguna wanted to argue with him, but the look in Squall's eyes asked him not to, so he kept his mouth shut and opted to nod instead. Squall nodded back and disappeared inside of the normally sterol room.

Laguna hitched a sigh and stretched, even as Nicholas sank into a sitting position on the floor, his legs tucked into his chest. Laguna was very tempted to do the same, but his military training told him to stay standing, in case he needed to act quickly.

"So, this is what he does…" Nicholas muttered after a few minutes, but Laguna had been able to catch it.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Laguna asked, his distrust of the other man surfacing once again.

Nicholas appeared slightly shocked that he had heard him and didn't answer for a few moments. Finally, he did. "It's just these mercenary types. Never did quite understand the business, if you get my drift."

Laguna stared at him for a moment and knew all at once Nicholas was lying. It wasn't his avoidance of the question that worried him though. If he would about something as infinitely useless as a teenager's occupation, then what else had he been lying about from the moment he had laid eyes on him.

The thought disgusted him, that someone would take advantage of a situation as dire and serious as this. Extortionists always managed to set Laguna on edge, and he figured that was the reason he didn't trust Nicholas. But it was as though he had only just scratched the surface of this mystery. Everyone accidentally splits up and when they finally met up with Squall, this man is tagging along. From the moment Laguna saw him, he hadn't trusted him, though he had merely thought of Nicholas as a suit who just so happened to be lucky enough to get away with his life.

But if that was the case, why was he even in the Residence to begin with? He didn't have any reason to be there. He could have just found a way out of the city and gotten away. Yet he chose to stay and was now travelling with himself and the last two survivors of the team who defeated a Sorceress who hadn't even been born yet.

So why _was_ he even there?

The longer he thought about it, the more he realized that Nicholas' presence didn't make any sense. Before they met Nicholas, the number of zombies they had encountered had been through the roof, but the only time they had really run into any more of them after running into him had been when Selphie stayed behind and detonated the explosives. It was as though they were avoiding him, but that didn't add up. The zombies went after everyone, including each other. So what made Nicholas so damned special?

"Laguna, are you alright?" Nicholas asked, breaking through his thoughts. "You look a tad pale."

He had kept his mouth shut out of necessity. The fact that they couldn't afford to stand around and bicker, but those zombies weren't anywhere nearby and they weren't going anywhere until Squall finished turning the infirmary upside-down looking for the anti-virus. He had time to confront this man, to figure out exactly who he was and why the nagging feeling in the back of his head told him he couldn't be trusted.

"I'm feeling alright," Laguna finally answered before turning on Nicholas. "Just a bit ticked off."

Nicholas watched him for a moment before nodded hesitantly. "Yes. It must be tough having to go through all of this. I didn't have the misfortune of watching co-workers die, and I consider myself lucky in that endeavour, but all the same I can only imagine the pain you must be feeling –"

"Speaking of," Laguna jumped in. "You said that you were at work and you managed to get out of the building. Why didn't you try to find a way out of town?"

Nicholas opened his mouth to respond but quickly shut it before he could.

"And for that matter, why are you even here?" Laguna continued. "Why is it that everywhere you've led us, we haven't run into a single one of those things, but when Squall was at point, we were suddenly surrounded?"

Nicholas remained silent, even as Laguna continued his questioning. "What's your stake in this? What do you get out of staying here? Are you looking for the anti-virus? Or do you have some other agenda?"

"I think you've watched far too many sci-fi television programs," Nicholas finally said. "I don't have any ulterior motives or anything like that –"

"Then why are you here?"

Nicholas sighed. "I can't tell you."

Laguna stared at him dumbly before he managed to find his voice. "And why the fuck not?"

"Because I made an agreement," Nicholas answered. "I'll explain myself to you once we get out of here, but in the meantime you'll just have to be patient."

"We're trapped inside of a building packed with zombies and other kind of mutated monsters and you expect me to wait _patiently_ for an answer?"

"With all due respect," Nicholas continued in that level tone of his. "I don't expect you to do anything. You can ask me the same questions over and over again, but until we leave this building and get out of the city, I will answer nothing."

Laguna frowned thoughtfully, watching Nicholas' nearly passive expression closely. He wasn't going to answer him, he wasn't going to get anything out of interrogating him like this. Knowing that fact made him more suspicious of him, but he didn't want to waste his ammunition trying to force him to talk.

_I'll drop the subject for now_, Laguna thought to himself, watching Nicholas for any movement whatsoever. _But I'm keeping an eye on you. I know you're up to something._


	15. Salvation

_The Truth is realized in an instant; the Act is practiced step by step_.  
- Zen saying

* * *

After he had finished bandaging her arm, he had left Quistis sitting on the examination table and began searching through cabinets, shelves and lockers looking for something that didn't belong.

When he had first taken a look inside of the infirmary, it had looked ransacked, like someone had torn everything apart looking for something. It didn't seem to fit in his mind, because he had yet to run into any more survivors, and Quistis had told him it had looked somewhat decent when she had been there earlier that evening. But now, examination tables had been upturned, a bed lay on its side while a couple of mattresses were scattered in different parts of the room, most of the pieces having been torn apart. Broken glass was almost everywhere on the floor, and he had found a couple of broken bottles of antibiotics on separate shelves, along with a mess of other chemicals.

Having taken in the sight, he had hoped the anti-virus – if it was even in this room – had remained intact.

Thankful that he still had his gloves on, he searched through the broken mess, looking for something he had no physical description of. He didn't even know if everything in the movie had been accurate. The people coming back to life, the dogs and the Licker creatures had been verified, but there hadn't been a sign of anything else related to the stupid movie. He remembered the antidote being green, but he didn't know if that information was even reliable.

The silence was stifling. He was a quiet person by nature, but the silence was driving him into thinking which, in turn, was forcing him to overanalyze the situation. He hated thinking too much, and he couldn't afford to over estimate or under estimate anything given the circumstances. Thinking back on what Selphie had told him, he took in a deep breath, hoping he didn't startle his former instructor too much. "Selphie asked me to tell you that she was a hypocrite."

He heard movement from behind and knew that he had gained Quistis' attention. "I don't know what she meant exactly, but her exact words were 'I'm a big fat hypocrite'."

Quistis didn't say anything for a moment. The only thing filling the silence was the occasional crunch of glass beneath his feet as he moved to inspect another section of the room. Finally, Quistis did speak. "She was talking about earlier, when she found out I was infected. She told me not to give up, just because there was some kind of virus that would turn me into one of those things. She was so insistent about it. But somehow, I don't think of her as a hypocrite. She probably wouldn't have been able to get out of there anyway."

Squall didn't answer back, recalling to memory her last words. She had told him if she attempted to leave, the Licker would have gone after the both of them. She was probably right, but he still felt as though there could have been something he could have done to get her out.

_Survivor's Guilt_, Squall thought to himself grimly, trying to dismiss the thoughts even as he analyzed them. Survivors of difficult circumstances always wonder why they were the ones left and if there could have been something done to save the others.

That was exactly how he felt. Everyone else had been either left behind to die, or sacrificed themselves in order to save their comrades. Squall could count on both hands how many times he had nearly been killed or even considered taking his own life during this entire experience, and yet he was still there. Quistis and Laguna had fought for their lives, depending on their own skills to get by and he himself had been rescued by an outsider who, by all rights, shouldn't have even stuck around in the first place, but had because of him.

_Some leader I turned out to be,_ Squall thought to himself with bitter sarcasm. Despite his wishes, everyone had looked to him for a decision, for a way out of this mess and he had failed each and every one of them. Now, only one member of his team was left, and she'd be dead too if they didn't find the anti-virus. Nicholas had no combat experience whatsoever and could barely shoot a gun from what Squall had seen so far, and Laguna had been out of the field for so long he didn't know how much longer he could hold those things off him. It was a wonder how no one else had managed to get infected.

_By all rights, I shouldn't be alive, not now. I just got lucky at each and every turn. My luck won't hold out forever, and I might even end up getting the others killed._

He finished checking the counters and shelves and tried to open one of the cabinet doors, only to find that it was locked. He searched his pockets for a moment before remembering that his combat knives had all been inside of his jacket, which he had lost when trying to escape those things. Struggling to remain calm and fight off the frustration that was trying to take over, he turned to look at the blonde SeeD. "Do you have any combat knives left?"

Quistis nodded hesitantly and pulled one off a belt loop that normally would have held her items pouch, holding it out for him to grab while gripping the sharp side of the bladed weapon. Squall took it from her, careful not to cut her before returning to the cabinet and working on prying the doors open.

"I don't trust him," Quistis finally blurted out after a moment, and Squall, who hadn't been making much progress on the cabinet anyways, stopped what he was doing and turned to stare at her for a moment.

"Trust who?"

"Nicholas."

Squall was at a loss for words and Quistis took the opportunity to continue. "I don't know why you don't feel he's a threat and, as you would normally point out, it's none of my business. But I just can't find it in me to give him a chance. I think he might be up to something."

"Like what?" Squall noticed that there was irritation in his voice and wondered how he had let it slip.

Quistis seemed to have noticed the tone as well and hesitated in her answer. "I just find it odd that he would come here after escaping from a building full of those things in the first place. Wouldn't the logical thing be to secure a route out of the city and take it before it was too late?"

"He said he found a way out of the city," Squall said, turning back to work on the cabinet. "A transport. I don't know where, but that's what he told me when we ran into each other."

"That makes things even stranger," Quistis argued and Squall resisted the urge to hang his head, even though he knew she wouldn't see him. "If he had a way out of the city, why didn't he take it? Why damn himself by sticking around here?"

Squall bit his lip thoughtfully, for once cursing Quistis' high-level of intelligence. He was running low on things to tell her. He had agreed with Nicholas that now was not the best time to explain that this was the man who had told him seemingly ages ago that they were related. At the same time, he wanted to tell her, on the off chance that they were already too late, but he didn't want to complicate things even more than they already were. Finally, he was able to force out an answer. "He said something about wanting to search for survivors."

The excuse sounded lame, even to his own ears, but it was the only thing he could come up with. Mentally apologizing to Quistis for having to lie to her, he hoped that she would drop the subject.

"I just wanted you to know," Quistis said after an uncomfortable moment of silence. He could hear the disbelief in her voice and was grateful she didn't pursue it. "Laguna doesn't trust him either."

"Well good for Laguna," Squall said, noticing that he was finally making some progress on the metal object. "Unfortunately, we don't have the luxury of being picky at a time like this. Whether either of you trust him or not, he's here and there's strength in numbers."

The combat knife finally propped open the cabinet door, nearly breaking off as a result and dragging Squall out of his mental musings. Placing the weapon into a loop on his belt, he easily opened the door, and searched the contents, pulling out and setting aside items that were blocking his path.

"Are you angry with me?" Quistis asked after a moment passed between them.

Squall sighed out of frustration, but continued his search regardless. "No…" he answered after a moment.

"Then why are you snapping at me?"

Frowning after a moment, he took a second to analyze the actual question itself. He hadn't been aware that he had snapped at her, and considered the reasons himself. The initial situation was making everyone tense, and the guilt he was feeling from the loss of his friends wasn't helping things. On top of that, there was apparently discord between the few survivors remaining, and eventually it would be up to him to resolve it. The last one was responsible for his current frustration.

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, he took in a deep breath before letting it out slowly. "We don't have time for this," he finally said after a moment's hesitation. "You may not trust Nicholas, but regardless of that we all need to co-operate. If we can't put aside our differences, it's going to get us killed."

Just as he was about to move on from the cabinet, something inside caught his eye. He leaned in further, both of his arms reaching into the cabinet as he pushed other chemicals and curative items aside. He didn't doubt Quistis was wondering about his sudden trailing off, but he didn't want to get her hopes up.

Finally he saw it, five thin cylindrical objects stashed at the farthest end of the cabinet. He was able to reach one of them, and he grasped the object in his gloved hand before pulling it towards him, examining it up close. It looked exactly like the one that was in the movie, small and thin, almost fitting in his hand, but not quite. The liquid within was green, placed in twisting curving tubes that crisscrossed in the illusion of a DNA strand.

Placing it carefully onto the counter so that it wouldn't roll off and break (he remembered how fragile the containers had been), he quickly reached in as far as he could to retrieve the remaining canisters.

"Squall?" Quistis asked tentatively.

Squall didn't answer her. He was too busy concentrating on stretching his arm as far as he could in order to reach the last canister, his fingers barely touching the object. Finally, he removed the three he had managed to grab a hold of and placed them next to the first one he had pulled out, and reached into the cabinet once again, nearby banging his exposed shoulder on the metal of the object as he did.

"What's going on?" Quistis asked again, just as Squall was able to guide the object towards him. He grasped it firmly in his hand before pulling it out and turning to face the former instructor.

"The anti-virus," Squall answered, smiling despite himself. "I told you we'd find it."

Quistis stared at him, not at all grasping what he was saying, but a moment later, her features shifted from confusion to relief. Squall couldn't blame her.

Upon moving from the cabinet, he noticed something else and, upon reaching in once again, he recognized a needle that would house the anti-virus. It was capable of injecting the required fluid into an infected person, or anything else for that matter. He remembered it from the movie and now possessed no doubt that it would fit.

"It looks like Zell really was right about the movie," Squall said as he approached the blonde woman, placing the anti-virus container into the needle. "So far everything has panned out."

"Except for one thing," Quistis said, even as Squall prepared to administer the shot. "What if it doesn't work?"

"Well, then we're all dead," Squall deadpanned. "It's our life line – the only thing that can keep us from turning. If it doesn't work and any of us becomes infected, then we die, it's as simple as that."

Neither spoke for a minute, causing a tense silence that they were eager to disrupt. Finally, Quistis did. "Then I guess we'd better hope it works."

Squall nodded in response before searching through a cabinet located on Quistis' left hand side for something to swab her arm. He came back successful, swabbing her arm with a cotton ball before administering the shot. The liquid drained from the clear tubes within the canister.

As Squall sterilized the needle and located a small side bag that he could carry the remaining canisters in, Quistis replaced the button up sweater she had picked to cover her sleeveless arms with, waiting patiently as he carefully filled the bag before snapping it shut. "Now what? We need to find a way out of here, right?"

"There's an exit through the sewer system, but other than that I have no idea," Squall stated, pulling the strap of the side bag over his left shoulder. "From what Nicholas told me, the front doors are pretty much overrun with those things."

Quistis frowned. "You know I'm not quite looking forward to sewer diving. No offence, but you still smell of sewer water."

The dark haired SeeD mimicked her facial expression, wondering how many showers he would have to take in order to forget the entire ordeal. "Like I said, we don't have the luxury of being picky, now do we?"

Before Quistis could answer, a loud banging sound could be heard from outside the infirmary. They would have exchanged glances, except Quistis didn't know exactly where Squall was. "Do you think they found us?" Quistis asked when a full minute went by.

"Maybe," Squall shrugged. It was a possibility. Their luck couldn't possibly have held any longer than it already had. "I'm going to go check it out."

Quistis nodded in response and Squall quickly made his way through the ruined infirmary, trying to make as little noise as possible, but given the broken glass on the floor, it wasn't nearly as quiet as he would have liked. He would have to bend over for the LDA, but he didn't have time to draw it, so instead he grabbed a hold of the combat knife he had borrowed from Quistis before turning the corner and looking out into the hallway.

Upon seeing what had caused the noise, he released the breath he hadn't been aware of holding. Laguna was leaning against the wall, breathing heavily and Nicholas lay on the ground, having knocked a garbage can aside, the contents strewn about on the floor. Both of them looked a little more disgruntled than they had when he had left them alone, almost as if they had gotten into a fight.

_We don't need this_, he thought to himself even as he turned back and whispered to Quistis that those things hadn't found them. Neither man appeared to have noticed him just yet, but when spoke, his voice gained their attention. "What the hell are you two doing?"

He could feel his patience slowly ebbing away, but he fought to hold onto it. He couldn't afford to lose his temper.

Laguna jumped when he heard his voice and Nicholas quickly pulled himself from his sitting position on the ground, dusting himself off and trying to making himself appear as professional as he had before the teenager had left them alone. "If Quistis and I could hear you out here, what makes you think that those things couldn't? We don't have time to be fighting each other."

"Thank goodness you came and broke up the scuffle," Nicholas said before Laguna could even make a sound. He suddenly pointed over towards the President, his voice taking on an accusatory tone. "He was just in the midst of attacking me."

"You're the one who attacked me!" Laguna shot back. "I just asked him a couple of questions, he didn't like it, and I thought the subject was dropped until he came after me with his bare hands. I kicked him offa me so he'd quit choking me."

"I did no such thing!" Nicholas shouted out, sounding outraged. "I come here to help you find your comrades and this is the thanks I get? Suspicion boarding on outright aggression. You bloody right tried to knock my head off its shoulders."

"Because you were trying to kill me!"

"What happened?" Quistis' voice drifted from behind him but before Squall could answer, both Laguna and Nicholas pointed at each other and shouted at the exact same time.

"He tried to kill me!"

Quistis blinked in confusion, struggling to stay upright from her leaning position on the doorframe and Squall very nearly let his head drop into his hands. Both of these men, who were older than either SeeD, were arguing and fighting like a couple of kids. Not only that, but the noise was loud enough to lure any of those things right to them. It was the equivalent of showing them a sign that read 'we're over here' if they could even read.

_One of them is lying_, Squall thought to himself. But unfortunately, he couldn't do anything about it since he wasn't there when the initial fight broke out. He'd have to depend on hearsay and he hated the idea of it. And sorting out the problem would waste more time; time that was too precious to waste.

He knew Laguna enough to understand that he wouldn't attack without a reason, but on the other hand from what he had seen, Nicholas didn't know how to defend himself, let alone fight. He could barely shoot a gun! It didn't seem likely that either of them would have started a fight, but at the same time they had but he didn't know which one.

_If this is how Quistis feels whenever Seifer and I fought, I understand how she felt, even if we didn't blame each other for starting it._

Ridding himself of the thought, he frowned thoughtfully. He couldn't ignore that someone attacked the other, but he couldn't do anything unless he could figure out who was lying.

Each had elucidated what had happened, but neither one was willing to relent who had actually started the scuffle, and he didn't have the time to sort through it. He'd have to make a decision, before those things showed up again.

_Why is it always up to me?_

"I'm willing to let the whole situation go," Nicholas suddenly broke in, appearing to have calmed down. "If _he_ is nowhere near me for the duration of the search."

"Fine by me," Laguna stated evenly. "I won't go anywhere near you if you don't try to kill me!"

"You're the one who tried to kill me," Nicholas said, whirling to face the other adult.

"That's not how I remember it."

"Of course you'd say that! You don't want them turning on you just because you allowed your dislike of me to cloud your judgement for one significant second."

Laguna blanched at the words. "Hey, I may not like you, but I would never –"

"But you did, and that's what matters," Nicholas cut in. "You don't like me, you don't like the fact that I'm travelling with any of you, and you decided to take me out. What were you going tell them? That one of those things sneaked up behind me and killed me?"

"What I've noticed while acting as the President," Laguna replied hotly. "is that the people who are guilty of the crime are the ones to speak up and deny it first."

"Sure, use that age-old excuse."

"But it's true."

"So says the politician," Nicholas shook his head. "We don't have time to be arguing, so just admit you tried to kill me and let us be on our way."

"I'm not in the practice of admitting to acting out when I didn't," Laguna said almost heatedly. "Besides, I'm not the one who went all defensive when I was being asked questions like 'why are you here?' or 'why didn't you try and find a way out of town?'. I find it funny though. You said you found Squall in the sewers, right? There's about two levels of sewers under the Presidential Residence, and they're designed in a kind of maze, almost like this entire city. What are the odds that you would find him through all of that?"

"I already told you that I wasn't planning on answering your original questions at this present time," Nicholas shot back. "You should have accepted that, rather than attack me.

"Secondly," he said before Laguna could interrupt. "I have a PDA, which helped me navigate the sewers. True that it was one in a million chances that I would find Squall, but we've all managed to be lucky thus far, wouldn't you say? I also managed to acquire a few traces of weaponry from solders and security guards around my workplace, which served their purpose for when I ran into those things. Though I don't possess any militia training whatsoever, I do know the basics of holding a gun."

"I'd say our luck increased when we ran into you," Laguna pointed out. "The zombies didn't even see us while you were around."

"That's not entirely true," Nicholas interjected. "Remember the room that exploded? We ran into quite a bit of zombie activity, did we not?"

"But after you took over navigating the halls," Laguna argued. "We didn't run into a single one. That's what? A one in a million chance? You'd have better odds getting struck by lightning."

"My colleagues always told me I was a lucky person," Nicholas said. "Perhaps my luck hasn't quite run out yet."

Laguna laughed bitterly. "Yeah, right. I fell off _three_ cliffs in my entire life, and I'm still alive. _That's_ lucky. You happening to escape the building you were in, navigating through Esthar's sewer system, which is probably infested with rats and infected personnel without becoming infected yourself…"

"I do have guns and ammunition," Nicholas interrupted.

"Not to mention find one of _our_ comrades," Laguna continued as though the other man hadn't said a word. "And find a way into the Residence, finding the rest of us,"

"That was him," Nicholas said, gesturing towards Squall.

"Without getting yourselves killed by those things sounds more to me like calculation and strategy than luck," Laguna concluded.

"Do you have a point?" Nicholas asked.

"Only that it sounds like you sort of orchestrated this whole mess."

Squall noticed a ghost of a triumphant smile cross upon Laguna's features, and had to admit he deserved to feel proud of himself. He had come up with good points, and counterpoints to pretty much everything Nicholas had said. However, the arguing and counter pointing only made him even more uncertain. He didn't know what to believe, what he wanted to believe. Not anymore.

"For Hyne's sake!" Nicholas shouted after a moment of silence. "Just admit that you did it! What are they going to do to you?" He gestured towards Quistis before briefly gesturing towards Squall as he continued to speak. "She can barely stand let alone fight back, and it's not like his magic is very effective when he can barely sustain a proper spell. They can't do anything to you, so just admit to it already."

The triumphant look was replaced by a confused expression. "Huh? What about Squall's magic?"

Squall frowned, but not at the knowledge that the others now knew what he had been keeping quiet. He had been alone during that endeavour, no one had been around to see it. And he sure as hell didn't tell Nicholas about it.

So how had he known?

Putting the knowledge that Nicholas knew something he shouldn't together with all of the points that Laguna had made with Quistis' own explanation towards the strange man, and he realized that Nicholas' alibi fell apart. The only question that ran through his mind was how he had gotten from the cafeteria to the sewer before him, but thinking back on it, Nicholas had been able to make himself appear as a teenager when he had tracked him down seemingly years ago. Squall hadn't been able to recognize him then, seemingly through a trick or disguise, but if he could make himself appear much younger than he actually was, then wasn't it possible that he could have just materialized from position A to position B and just so happen to find him? Kind of like a Sorceress, but that would mean Nicholas also possessed magic that he hadn't utilized since he had met up with them.

Squall's thoughts turned dark upon realizing that everything Nicholas had told him up until that point had been a lie. But if he had lied about important details such as the reason he was here, why he hadn't immediately looked for an escape, or why those things weren't attacking them as frequently as they had been before this moment, then it was possible Nicholas had lied about a transport leaving the city.

If he lied about everything else, could he have lied about what had been said all those days ago?

Anger and hate began to boil inside of him, much like when he had discovered NORG had planned to sell his entire team out to the Sorceress just to keep himself alive. It was threatening to boil past the surface and consume him, forcing him into a rage that he hadn't felt since then, or since he witnessed Seifer handing Rinoa over to Adel inside of the Lunatic Pandora.

He couldn't allow that feeling to possess him, not this time. The survival of himself and the remaining survivors was at stake. If he surrendered to those feelings now, it would put him in a state where logic no longer mattered, and they would need all the help they could get if they planned to escape the building with their lives.

But that didn't stop his hand from reaching towards his belt, where the lone combat knife – the same knife he had used to pry open the cabinet and get to the anti-virus – sat, idly waiting to be used. He didn't feel the weight of the handle in his grasp, his fingers tightening around the object before he withdrew it from its makeshift sheath and threw it, missing Laguna's face by several inches and imbedding itself into his target – a man he no longer saw as an ally – and watched in a detached state as the now still corpse fell backwards, landing onto the tiled floor behind him.


	16. And the Truth Comes Out

_I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, when you looked at it in the right way, did not become still more complicated.  
_- Poul Anderson

* * *

Laguna blinked several times, trying to get the image he had just witnessed to be processed to his brain where it would be analyzed. After a moment, the process was completed and he was left staring stupidly at the body that had been Nicholas a few seconds before, only now he had a combat knife lodged at the top of his nose right in-between his eyes. His light coloured eyes stared up at the ceiling while blood seeped past the wound and foreign object, rolling to fall onto the ground beneath his head, which currently lay at an angle.

Slowly, the President of Esthar turned to look at the SeeD, who appeared indifferent to what had just happened. One minute, Laguna had been sure he was going to be yelled at for attacking a civilian (which he hadn't actually done in the first place, mind) and the next, a knife whizzes past him and hits Nicholas clean in the forehead. As much training as he was sure the SeeD had been through, he doubted _anyone_ short of an insane serial killer was capable of that kind of apathy.

He had just let the argument between himself and Nicholas drop when he had heard something coming from nearby. He had started to turn so he could look around when Nicholas suddenly lunged at him, grabbing him by the throat and pushing him up against the wall. Whatever thoughts of Nicholas being incapable of an attack had flown from his mind as he had struggled to defend himself, only to kick out with his left leg and push Nicholas into a nearby garbage can just seconds before Squall seemingly materialized out of nowhere and broke it up.

Then Nicholas had the gall to try and convince him that _he_ had been the one to attack _him_, but from what he could see, it obviously hadn't worked.

_So much for Squall trusting the guy, but…_ Laguna stopped and stared at the SeeD before him just as the teenager in question helped Quistis regain her balance, allowing her arm to drape across his shoulder again. _Did I just see anger in his eyes?_

Laguna had a vague idea of the reason why. He had been deceived. Laguna knew that, had he been in his position, he would have been angry too, but not enough to actually _kill_ him. Something didn't seem right to him. It hadn't been just Nicholas keeping secrets, and Laguna had a feeling that Squall had a fair bit he wasn't telling him or Quistis. Whatever it was, it could no longer wait. He needed answers and he needed them now.

"Laguna!"

Laguna jumped when he heard his name called and, judging by the look on the younger male's face, he could tell he had been trying to get his attention for a while. "Yeah?" he asked tentatively.

"I said can you grab the PDA from that body? He also has a TMP. Take it if you think you'll need it."

Laguna nodded dumbly and bend down, not really wanting to inspect the body, but doing so anyway. He kept telling himself that now was not the right time to become squeamish and removed the PDA from the pocket of Nicholas' trench coat. He also found the submachine gun and quickly removed it from the holster in which Nicholas had held it. He looked up and managed a tired smile that probably didn't reach his eyes. "Do you want me to strip-search him too?"

Squall had probably taken him seriously and shook his head as a response. "Those things will definitely be attracted to the body. We should keep moving."

Laguna nodded and all three of them continued down the hallway, Laguna holding the PDA. As much as he didn't like him, he believed that killing Nicholas had been a bad move. With Squall supporting Quistis, who was pretty much blind at this point, he was left to read the PDA layout and he really couldn't read a map that well.

A sudden idea came to mind and, as much as he knew they didn't have any time for games, he couldn't pass it up. It was the only way to finally receive some answers, and he had to take it.

After a few minutes of walking, the trio arrived at a junction. They could turn left and down the hallway, or they could take a right turn, curving left as they continued on. Looking at the PDA, Laguna got confused when trying to connect the lines and resisted the urge to shake his head to clear it.

"Well?" Squall asked, disrupting his train of thought. "Which way?"

"Dunno," Laguna shrugged. "You know as well as I do that I can't read a map."

Squall frowned in response and Laguna just waited patiently for what he had to say next. "Give me the PDA, I'll figure it out."

"Sure," Laguna said, but just as Squall reached out to take it, Laguna pulled it out of reach. When he received a surprised and curious expression from the SeeD, he grinned grimly. "_After_ you answer a few of my questions."

Squall stared at him incredulously, probably waiting to see if Laguna was joking, but the former soldier knew that he was serious. Finally, he shook his head. "We don't have time for this."

"I know, but you won't say anything otherwise." Laguna shrugged in response. "And I want to know a few things."

"Can't they wait?"

"Not really."

Squall sighed out of frustration. "It's not important."

"You don't even know what I'm going to ask."

"There's no time to play this game, Laguna."

"I didn't say anything about playing a game," Laguna stated simply. "All I said was that I have a few questions to ask and would like them to be answered. I think Quistis and I deserve that much, don't you? Considering what we've all been through?"

At the mention of her name, Quistis lifted her head up and, despite being blind, she stared critically at the both of them, probably only just tuning into the conversation. Squall's expression was blank, probably being masked so that Laguna couldn't see what he was thinking. He just hoped that he wasn't making a mistake about this. They needed the answers, but they could deal without the added friction.

"What exactly do you want to ask?" Squall finally questioned through a sigh, breaking the silence that had fallen upon them.

Laguna resisted the urge to breathe a sigh of relief. _You're not outta the woods yet,_ he mentally reminded himself and took in another deep breath, feeling the leg cramping. "First of all, are you okay?"

The blank expression shifted momentarily, revealing surprise before the SeeD masked it again. "Yeah, why?"

"'Cuz you looked kinda angry back there," Laguna answered, to which the SeeD shrugged.

"I'm alright. Why wouldn't I be?"

Laguna frowned. It was obvious Squall wasn't going to let on that anything was bothering him, and that meant he'd have to push a little further. Given the teenager's current temperament, he wasn't looking forward to it. "Well, it's obvious you trusted Nicholas, right? Just wondering why you believed me over him is all."

"Does it really matter?" Squall snapped, apparently before he could stop himself.

"Actually, yeah, it does."

"You were defensive of him back in the infirmary," Quistis jumped in and Laguna was grateful for the reprieve. At least he wasn't the only one coming up with the questions. "Then, barely five minutes pass and you kill him. That doesn't make any sense."

Squall shrugged, probably trying to seem indifferent. "I realized I was wrong. It happens."

"You tolerate others being wrong," Quistis pointed out. "But when _you're_ the one that's wrong, you beat yourself up about it. And don't tell me I'm wrong. I spend seven years trying to figure you out, and with what I know about you I could write a book."

"So basically," Laguna interrupted. "From what we've figured out on our own, we know you trusted him and then you turn around and kill him. You figured you were wrong and, while you normally tear yourself apart because of it, you shrug it off as if it was nothing. Doesn't that sound suspicious to even you?"

"I made a mistake," Squall stated evenly. "People make mistakes. It happens. And we don't have time to worry about it, if we want to make it out of here alive."

"It still doesn't make any sense," Quistis muttered. "What I don't understand is why you trusted him at all. For the entire time I've known you, you stray away from people, and you won't trust anyone unless they give you a reason to. Not even Rinoa got on your good side right away."

Laguna noticed something flicker in the younger teen's eyes, but it was gone so quickly the former soldier was almost convinced that he had just imagined it. _Did Quistis touch a nerve?_ He thought to himself.

"What makes you think I haven't learned to trust more easily?" Squall asked. "Maybe that's one thing you actually _didn't_ get right for once."

_He _is_ beating himself up about it… _Laguna realized suddenly. _He thinks that since he trusted Nicholas almost right away and that he was wrong that this is his fault._

"What I would like to understand is why you trusted him so quickly," Quistis argued back, obviously ignoring the insult. "There has to have been a reason."

"It's not important," Squall said after a tense moment of silence. "It's in the past. Can we drop the subject now? You said it yourself, Quistis. It's none of your business."

"I think it is," Laguna said.

"Xu told me about what happened at Garden. While Selphie, Irvine and I were at the Galbadian Missile Base." Quistis interrupted. "She told me what happened to NORG but, more importantly, she told me why. That NORG was using Balamb Garden in order to fill his own pockets, and that he had _meant _for our team to be executed after the failed assassination attempt in Deling to save face in the name of the Sorceress. If I was there, I probably would have killed him myself."

"What does that have to do with this?" Squall asked, visibly exasperated with the subject.

"Nicholas – like NORG – must have done _something_ to you. Possibly even said something to you in order for you to trust him, but whatever it was it fell apart because of _something, _and it, undoubtedly, made you angry," Quistis answered. Laguna was astonished that, even given her physical state, she was able to come up with counter-arguments, almost as though she were a pro at questioning witnesses who didn't want to give away a criminal or murderer. "I'm guessing that's why Nicholas died, but we still don't know what exactly caused that reaction."

"Of the two, I've known Laguna longer," Squall said in that even tone again. "I know Laguna wouldn't attack someone without a reason, so obviously he was the one who was telling the truth."

"But we didn't know that Nicholas could actually fight until _after_ he was killed," Quistis said. "Up until then, we were under the assumption that he could barely hold and fire a gun properly."

"So?"

"And since he was a civilian," Laguna jumped in. "I'm surprised you didn't put him somewhere safe, find a hiding spot for him to crawl into where those things couldn't grab him and then come back for him after looking around the residence. From what I know, that's sounds more like something you would have done."

"That's right. We were under the impression that he was a civilian," Quistis agreed.

"This was a more complicated situation," Squall argued.

"All the more reason to leave a civilian in a safe place," Laguna stated.

"I could have put _you _in a safe place, but I didn't."

"That's because I'm not a civilian. I'm a President."

"All the more reason to put you somewhere safe," Squall deadpanned. "Esthar can't function properly without someone in charge."

"Yeah, but I have weapons training from my days in the army," Laguna stated simply. "And you know it, which is why you didn't leave me behind in a safe place."

"We needed the extra numbers," Squall argued back. "At the time, it was just the five of us, then we lost one. If we had put Nicholas somewhere safe, it would have just been the three of us, and Quistis isn't physically able to fight."

"Though I know that is true," Quistis broke in. "I highly resent that."

"It's just the three of us now," Laguna said smugly.

"Because we found out that Nicholas can't be trusted."

"Then why the hell did you trust him in the first place?"

"Because he said he was my father!" Squall suddenly blurted out.

There was silence after that, save for the echoing of the last statement off the desolate walls of the corridors. Whatever colour that remained had drained from Quistis' features and Laguna couldn't find his voice initially after the confession was made. Squall must have realized what he had said because he had an expression boarding on outrage creasing his features, probably hating the tactic in which had been used on him. Laguna didn't blame him, from what he understood, SeeDs were trained to be able to withstand any form of mental tricks that warranted valuable information slipping out. That training hadn't helped him out, partially because of the situation itself.

After a few long seconds, Laguna's voice emerged from hiding, though it sounded small even to his own ears. "And you believed him?"

Squall didn't answer him at first, and was probably debating on ignoring him altogether, but after a second, he surprised him. "Yes." After the answer left him, he shook his head slightly, as if confused. "No… I don't know anymore. I… guess I wanted to believe him."

Turning to face Laguna, he spoke again. "If a complete stranger had come up to you and told you that he was your son, who you never even got to know, didn't even know what they looked like, what would _you_ have done?"

Laguna couldn't deny the irony of that statement, but he hesitated in his answer because he didn't know what to say. He had been mulling the words over in his head the moment he had first learned the truth, but now he didn't even know if he wanted them to come to fruition. If he said them now, he would never believe him, never trust him. It was too soon. Nicholas had played him for a fool and the walls that surely had been let down in order to allow the other man entrance had been built back up again, possibly with upgrades.

_I can't tell him_, Laguna thought to himself, the hurt hitting him hard. _Not yet. Not so soon after this. At least not without proof_.

"Honestly," Laguna said. "I think I sort of have an idea of what it's like. I wanted to believe that it was Elle when she came to the Lunar Base and found me. I know it's not the same, since I did know what she looked like, but the only time I had seen her before she found me was when she was five years old. Appearances change during that time, but I can see what you mean."

"Yeah," Squall muttered. "But _she_ didn't lie to you."

Silence greeted them again, as if forcing the trio to take in the words that had been spoken, but finally they found a reprieve when Quistis broke through it. "I don't mean to sound insensitive, but those things have probably found Nicholas' body by now. Shouldn't we keep moving?"

Laguna nodded dumbly, handing the PDA over towards the male SeeD, who took a look at it momentarily before nodding. "We head right."

A half an hour went by since they had last spoken, and Squall was grateful for the reprieve. He still hadn't recovered from the onslaught of questions and he wasn't sure how he should feel towards the remaining two survivors. There was a sense of aggravation that they wouldn't leave the subject be, and there was most definitely anger towards the tactic they had chosen to use. But there was also relief somewhere between the two, the weight had been lifted now that the big secret was out in the open, and he no longer had to hide it, no longer had to lie about it. It was difficult to sort through the three and figure out which feeling was winning.

So far they hadn't run into anymore of those things and in retrospect Squall didn't know whether to be pleased or annoyed. Normally when he was frustrated or confused he ended up in the training center at Garden, and either took it out on the Grats in the area, or trained to the point where he couldn't string together a mental thought so he didn't have to think about it. Unfortunately, neither was an option and the silence was forcing him to do the one thing he hated doing – dwelling on it.

He was furious with Nicholas – having used him the way he had. There had been a reason he didn't let anyone in as easily as they would have liked, to prevent himself from getting hurt. Just as the rest of his team had managed to convince him that there were people he could trust in the world, the _bastard_ had to show up and change his opinion once again.

_Never again_, he swore to himself. _I won't let it happen a third time._

He didn't hate Ellone for introducing this feeling to him at an early age, mainly because she didn't have a choice in the matter. She hadn't even done it on purpose, so why should she be blamed for something she had had no control over? It had hurt – still did even as he drudged up the unwanted memory – but she had been a child. Children couldn't control what happened around them. All they could do was watch and become influenced by what took place. It had all been a matter of circumstance that Ellone had been taken away, and in the end he had managed to find his own way.

_I hope Elle is okay, wherever she is,_ he thought to himself as they continued straight. So far they hadn't had the good fortune of finding a stairwell, and Squall hoped they would find one soon. Once they managed to find a way out, he wanted to double back and see if he could locate the missing girl.

Before he could announce what he intending to do, some movement from the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he turned to see Laguna turn back from looking behind him, his features paling slight. "What's wrong?"

The question obviously caught the elder man off guard and he nearly jumped in response. Turning his startled gaze towards him, Laguna managed to take in a deep breath to calm himself before chuckling slightly, probably to laugh it off. "Nothing," he answered. "Just the trick of the light. I thought I saw someone walking behind us, but that's not possible."

Squall stared at Laguna in shock, hope beginning to creep into the pit of his stomach once again. "Was it male or female?"

"Male," Laguna answered and that hope dwindled at the word.

"So why isn't it possible that you'd seen something?"

"Because I saw Nicholas, but that can't be right 'cuz he's dead."

Squall raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. It was possible Laguna really _was_ only seeing things, but he didn't know if he wanted to take that chance. It could have just been one of those things following them, but from the way Laguna had spoken, he doubted it. Though he remembered that a scene from the movie had portrayed the group walking through a cemetery (Squall had known the instant they had left the church that it was a bad idea) and the virus that had caused the sudden mutation and reanimation had been in the ground, thus infecting those of which who had already died…

He turned to look behind him, wanting to see if it really was a trick of the light, and turned back around almost as quickly. Down at least half the corridor behind them was Nicholas, dressed the same way he had been when they had last seen him, the knife still imbedded in his forehead. But he was very much alive, keeping pace with them, never speeding up to catch them, but not allowing them out of his sight either.

"You weren't seeing things," Squall said and he could tell Laguna immediately knew what he was talking about.

"We can't run, not with Quistis the way she is."

"What are you talking about?" Quistis rasped out. Instead of steadily getting better, it was the opposite. She was deteriorating further. Squall just hoped that was normal before the anti-virus kicked in.

"Nicholas is following us," Squall answered.

"Maybe he was playing dead all along," Quistis suggested, and it was then Squall remembered she had only heard the encounter and not actually seen it. "You must not have hit him somewhere vital and he stayed still until we left."

"Quistis, I hit him point blank in the middle of the forehead," Squall explained. "The knife is still there."

"…That's impossible…"

"So is the dead walking, but they still manage to do just that," Laguna pointed out.

"We can pick up the pace," Squall suggested. "I think Nicholas might have memorized the paths, though."

"Then he'd know where we were trying to go," Laguna said.

"Do you have any other ideas?"

Laguna smiled. "Just one. C'mon."

Squall nodded and allowed Laguna to take point, shifting Quistis slightly and followed after him. Taking a quick look behind, he noticed that Nicholas had also picked up the pace, probably after realizing he had been detected.

They turned the corner on the left hand side, before Squall took in the location and cursed. They were at a dead end, the three corners making the SeeD feel slightly claustrophobic as he saw three pictures hanging off the walls, all of which blocked their path.

"I should have known," Squall stated, glaring at Laguna and looking behind him just in case Nicholas caught up. "When you head left, everyone else heads right."

Laguna ignored him, and approached the wall, Squall frowning as he did.

"What's going on now?" Quistis asked. "Where's Nicholas?"

"Still behind us," Squall answered, still glaring at Laguna. "Laguna led us to a dead end."

"What? How are we supposed to get out of here if it's a dead end?"

"Shhh…" Laguna quieted the pair as he continued to inspect the wall.

"What is he doing now?" Quistis asked.

"Inspecting a wall," Squall said flatly without an ounce of humour. "I think he sees something interesting."

Quistis frowned and huffed at the same time, the footsteps coming from Nicholas' loafers sounding louder as he neared their location. "Whatever it is you're looking at, do you mind hurrying it up?" Squall snapped.

"Almost… got it…there!" Laguna said in triumph as he fumbled with the underside of one of the paintings. Suddenly from his direct left a small panel opened up in the wall and Squall's jaw nearly dropped open out of his surprise.

"What was that?" Quistis asked

"I take back what I said," Squall said to Laguna before addressing Quistis' question. "He found a secret door."

"You mean a hidden pathway?"

"Yeah, and unless you want Nicholas to catch us, let's go!" Laguna said, ushering the two SeeDs inside. Both did as they were told, Squall putting Quistis onto the ground and following her inside of the path, just as Laguna stepped in after him, pulling the door closed behind him.


	17. What Kills Us Makes Us Stronger

_One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important.  
_- Bertrand Russell

* * *

As soon as the panel door shut behind him, there was a pounding sound along the wall, nearly knocking the dust and plaster down from their surroundings. Laguna had thought he had seen Nicholas round the corner as he pulled the door closed behind him, and cursed the knowledge that it had taken him so long to find the button that led into their musty surroundings.

It was pretty dark, but light enough that he could see the others nearby. Quistis was in the middle of a hacking fit – probably from the dust and smell of plaster – and Squall was trying to help her breathe. Laguna didn't like the smell much either, but at least there was a wall between them and… whatever the hell Nicholas actually was.

He had heard of people surviving with knives in their brains but this was ridiculous.

Still, they couldn't stay where they were, not for long, and Laguna knew exactly why.

"I think Nicholas knows which part of the wall we went through." Laguna told the other two, once Quistis had stopped coughing. "If he finds the lock that opens the door, he'll catch us."

"Then we better get moving," Squall said, standing up and helping his remaining comrade up at the same time. The duct they had crawled into was high enough that they could walk upright without hitting themselves in the head. Squall took point, supporting Quistis as they walked and Laguna wasn't too far behind them. The tunnel being too narrow for three people to walk side by side.

Suddenly the tunnel started to slope in the direction opposite of where they were heading, changing the journey to an uphill trek. Laguna had a faint idea as to where they were heading, but didn't say anything, looking behind him and keeping an eye out for Nicholas, in case he did find the right button. He wouldn't have an idea as to where they were going otherwise. He just hoped there'd be a big enough time gap that Nicholas couldn't fill it.

After what felt like an eternity of walking, Quistis finally broke the silence that had fallen upon them. "Hey Squall."

"Yes?" Squall asked and, for lack of anything better to do, Laguna listened.

"Just to let you know, if the anti-virus doesn't work, and I turn and bite you, I apologize ahead of time."

The comment caught Laguna off guard, but whether it had done to same to Squall he didn't know. There was a moment's pause before Squall finally responded. "Yeah, well… in the unlikely event that the anti-virus doesn't work and you turn, I apologize in advance for shooting you in the head."

"Do you promise you'll shoot me?" She asked and Laguna couldn't help but chuckle.

"Promise."

"Hey, if she fusses, can I hold her down?" Laguna joked and he noticed Squall cracked one of those rare smiles the others had been talking about.

_Dammit if he couldn't look anymore like Raine…_ he thought to himself as they continued walking.

A little while after the exchange had been made, Squall was the one who broke the silence. "How much longer are we supposed to make our way through here?"

"I think we're almost there," Laguna said.

"You _think_?"

"Let's just hope Laguna's right," Quistis asked tiredly. "No more fighting, please."

As if to emphasize her words, Laguna saw Squall stop and upon looking over his shoulder realized that they had finally made it. He manoeuvred his way past the teenagers and began the process of pushing out the plaster that blocked their exit out of the way, Squall setting Quistis down and moving to help him out. Soon afterwards, the plaster fell forward, into the room they were about to enter and Squall jumped out first, Laguna picking up Quistis and carrying her with him as he followed suit.

Upon taking in the sight of the room, Laguna realized that his sense of direction was getting better. They were in his office, located at the very top of the Estharian Presidential Residence. His desk was situated in front of a large looking map that had multi-coloured pegs positioned in different areas, mostly to colour-code exactly which route led where. Laguna still wasn't very good at navigating the streets of Esthar and wondered exactly how anyone could get from point A to point B as quickly as they did. There were a few chairs sectioned off along the walls, and even a small couch just in case Laguna got tired and didn't want to return to his suite.

Squall seemed to have realized where they were, frowning slightly before he made his way over towards Laguna's desk. Laguna didn't argue. He knew well enough that there was a communications device that could normally stay functional, even if there was a city-wide power outage. Obviously, the SeeD was looking for a way to contact the outside world, probably get them emergency Evac.

He turned to look at Laguna, who had approached him and was gently setting Quistis down against the desk, and shook his head, causing the elder man to frown. It wouldn't activate.

"There goes that plan," Laguna said. "I guess all we do now is do a sweep around the room, maybe look for a phone or something, and head back downstairs."

"Not the best plan, but it's all we've got, I guess," Squall said but, before either man could make a move, they heard scuffling coming directly from the path they had taken. Squall and Laguna exchanged glances before Squall moved towards the plaster and picked it up, placing it in the gap they had emerged from and blocking the entrance into the room. Laguna opened the panel box for the communications device, and frowned at the amount of wiring that he was presented with. Each wire was different, and he didn't even know how to start rigging it so that it would send a message to the outside world – even if it was scrambled.

"Laguna! Give me a hand over here!" Squall shouted and, when Laguna looked over, he saw the SeeD was having a great difficulty in keeping Nicholas at bay single handedly.

"How much longer can you hold him off on your own?" Laguna asked.

"You think I know?" Squall shouted and was nearly thrown off balance as Nicholas pounded at the plaster blocking his path.

"Try to hold him as long as you can! I'm gonna try and rig the COM system!"

"Laguna!" Squall shouted, but he couldn't move from his position. Laguna ignored him and turned back to the communications system, even as the banging noises got louder. From what he could see, the com system was just fine. In fact, it was telling him that all systems were operational. That wasn't even remotely possible…

…Unless someone was jamming any frequency from reaching the outside.

Cursing, Laguna resolved to find a phone and attach the working components to the device when a hand tightly gripped his shoulder, startling him. He turned around to find Quistis standing right next to him, her pale features even more pronounced in the light than they were in the dark.

"Quistis!" Laguna gasped, relieved to see that it was only the blonde SeeD. "Don't do that. You damn near scared the living shit outta –"

He immediately stopped when Quistis snarled at him, her teeth blackened with decay as she lunged forward, tightly gripping him by the neck and trying to bend down low enough to bite him in the shoulder. Laguna's back was up against the desk. Each time he pushed her back, she leaned forward with just a bit more weight and he didn't know how much longer it was going to be before she finally overpowered him.

He cursed loudly, catching teenager's attention, who took in the situation with a startled and panicked expression. He couldn't move without allowing Nicholas access into the room, but he couldn't let Laguna get killed by a zombie, even if less than a minute ago she had been a comrade.

Finally, Laguna was able to adjust his grip so that he was pushing against her forehead, just as Quistis was about to bite him in the face and, mentally apologizing to her, he pushed hard, a loud crack emitting in the room. Quistis' limp form fell onto the ground beside his desk, and it almost looked as though she was just asleep.

Wishing he could take a moment of silence out of respect, he turned towards Squall and shouted at him instead. "Squall! We need to leave! Now!"

Squall grit his teeth before removing the plaster panel from the gap in the wall and, before Nicholas could jump into the room, cast two spells one right after the other. The first resembled a set of white wings, which attached themselves onto the man's back, forcing him upwards and the other was a gust of wind protruding from the SeeD's upturned palm, forcing Nicholas back into the passage and, hopefully, further away from them.

Squall immediately put up the plaster panel and raced over towards Laguna, having to pass the body of the only other comrade who had made it this far and approached the President, who had already opened the door. As soon as they were on the opposite end, both pushed the door back into its closed state, the last sight either of them having was the prone form that had formally been Quistis Trepe.

Laguna didn't know how long they had run after that, only that time seemed to blur as they raced towards the nearest set of stairs, the darkened night time sky seemingly lighter than it had been before. Daybreak was coming. It'd be easier to manoeuvre through the Residence during the light hours. They turned another corner, not bothering to look behind them to see if anyone or anything was following them and finally stopped to catch their breath. It wouldn't be a good sign if either of them collapsed from lack of oxygen in their lungs.

He saw movement from the corner of his eye but knew it was just Squall falling into a sitting position against the wall, his left hand still gripping the leather strap of the side bag he still had. After seeing the anti-virus fail to save Quistis' life, he wondered if it was any good at all.

_But we didn't account for how far gone the infected victim would be when it was administered,_ Laguna reasoned to himself. _She had already lost her sight when she got the shot; maybe there's a time limit. If that's the case then we were just too late…_

Unfortunately, there was only one way to find out whether or not the anti-virus truly worked, and he doubted either himself or Squall would be willing test subjects. Hell, he knew for a fact _he_ didn't want to get scratched or bitten by any of those things. Laguna guessed that their best bet would be to keep the anti-virus with them, just in case one of them was unfortunate enough to get infected with the outbreak virus.

"We're pretty close to the stairwell," Laguna said. "I didn't see any of the zombies lurking around, but we shouldn't stick around any longer. Nicholas might be following our trail even now."

Squall didn't answer him, and Laguna assumed that he had gone into his own little world to think about something. From what he knew about the workaholic SeeD, that was pretty much something he did all the time.

_He's probably thinking about the others,_ Laguna thought to himself and he understood completely. It was all he could do to distract himself from the fact that Kiros and Ward were gone, and now Squall was the lone survivor of his team, most of them consisting of people he had grown up with, according to popular discussion. But thinking about the loss made it hurt even more, and they didn't need the grief to blind them. They could think about it as much as they needed to once they got out of the Presidential Residence, but right now, they needed to actually get out of the building.

Laguna knew that they were on the top floor. There were two choices. Go to the roof, where there was probably some form of transportation left over, or head all the way back down to the first floor and head out of the building on foot. The former soldier very much doubted the possibility that any of the air-carriers positioned on the helipads upstairs were operational. They all functioned with a microchip that was proportionate to the city's power supply. Since the power was out, it was likely the crafts were grounded.

_Which leaves us with option B…_ Laguna frowned thoughtfully. _Hyne, I love options. 'Specially when there really aren't any good ones._

Laguna didn't even consider option C: staying inside of the Presidential Residence in hopes that someone would find them. It was very unlikely that anyone sane who had managed to escape unscathed was still in the city after this long a period of time, not to mention Nicholas was still at large. Who knew what he was up to, let alone what he was planning to do to them if he caught up to them.

Laguna for one didn't want to find out the hard way.

Having finished recovering from the dead sprint, he pulled out the PDA and took a good look at it before recalling that he couldn't distinguish the overlapping lines that crisscrossed in front of his vision. Sighing, he turned towards the remaining SeeD, who had yet to rise from his sitting position and, after a moment passed, he cleared his throat, hoping to get his attention.

If he had heard, he wasn't showing it.

Sighing once again, Laguna frowned, folding his arms across his chest. "It's like talking to a wall…" he muttered.

Once again, he received no response.

Allowing his arms to drop to his side, he started to worry. From what the others had told him, once any sudden movement or sound was made, it jarred the SeeD out of his mental musings, but this time it wasn't working.

"Squall?" He tried, but once again, he received no answer.

_It really _is_ like talking to a wall…_ Laguna thought to himself. _No response whatsoever._

He closed the small distance between the two, crouching down in front of the teenager and trying to examine his facial expression, except the strands of hair that served as the younger male's bangs blocked his view. Laguna knew instantly that he had allowed the boy to brood longer than he should have. "I don't mean to sound insensitive, but we should really keep moving."

Laguna wasn't really expecting the younger boy to respond and was surprised when he did. "I can't."

Laguna's first instinctual move was to check him for any injuries, but didn't find anything out of the ordinary at first glance. There didn't appear to be anything broken or sprained, and there were no scratches or bite marks marring his skin. The former soldier raised an eyebrow in confusion. "As ironic as this may sound, you're fine."

Squall had raised his left hand and allowed his face to fall into it as the elder man had spoken to him. Laguna honestly didn't see anything physically wrong with the teenager, but when the SeeD removed his gloved hand from his face, he instantly knew what was wrong. He looked exhausted, almost defeated, sparing the elder man a despairing expression.

_Survivor's guilt…_ Laguna realized belatedly. He should have known. He had felt it after Ward had died, but had pushed it aside in favour of convincing Selphie to keep moving. He had felt an obligation to her, to make sure she didn't end up the same way because Ward had sacrificed his life for theirs. Squall probably didn't feel that kind of obligation towards him, and had only been holding on because of the hope that maybe, just maybe, the anti-virus would work and Quistis would survive. Unfortunately, they had both been wrong in that respect and as a result he was giving into the despair that had hit him hard.

_Considering how many of his comrades – his friends – there were originally, and how many have died… how long has he been carrying this guilt for?_

Thinking back on each individual death they had witnessed or heard about (no matter how painful it might have been for him), he realized that it could have started as early as the previous evening. While everyone else had been frozen into immobility, Squall had been the first to react when Zell had been grabbed from behind. He had tried to help the others escape the elevator lobby, only to discover that they had left one behind and had, no less than an hour later, been forced to leave another friend behind, only to return and find him in a similar state as pretty much everyone else in the building. After running into Nicholas, he had returned to the Residence in hopes of finding the others, only to discover that two more had died, one of which was his girlfriend no less and, soon after that, another of his friends blew themselves up in order to protect them. It was a small wonder why he reacted so badly when the last of his friends had died, finally succumbing to the virus that had started this whole mess in the first place.

Each different circumstance stacked on top of the other and Laguna was convinced that nothing short of therapy was going to help him recover from this.

_That is, _if _we survive to talk about it._

"I mean I can't." Squall repeated himself, jarring Laguna out of his thoughts. "After everything that has just happened, you expect me to just be able to pick up and proceed like nothing has happened? I know that's what SeeDs are supposed to do, but how can you tell me to do something like that? Act like nothing happened, when everyone else is dead?"

"I don't expect you to just forget about them…" Laguna started, but was interrupted.

"It's not fair. It's not fucking fair! How come I get to make mistakes and still manage to come out of this okay whereas the tiniest slip up screws everyone else over? How the _fuck_ is that fair? I—" he cut himself off, allowing his head to fall back into his upturned palms before his shoulders began to visibly shake and his voice cracked. He was almost at breaking point. "I can't do this anymore! I… I just can't."

From everything he had been told about the teenager that sat before him, he had been absolutely astonished that he never gave up on anything important to him. Rinoa and Quistis had both told him of how Squall had jumped out of one of the escape pods from the Lunatic Pandora in order to rescue Rinoa right after Ultimecia released her from her possession. They had told him of how they both would have died in outer space if they hadn't managed to find the Ragnarok floating nearby and boarded the former Estharian Flag Ship. When he had asked them why he had done it, Quistis had told him it was because he had been so adamant to find a way to save Rinoa that he genuinely wanted to physically do something that would rescue her. Rinoa had been adamant that she would have died out there had he not actually come after her.

After meeting him in person, Laguna's first impression of the teenager had been that he was a robot in human clothing. The impression shifted from that personification to a _workaholic_ robot in human clothing. But now he was actually seeing the real person behind Squall Leonhart for the very first time. He was seeing an actual human being with feelings and emotions, just like everyone else in the world. Right now, the person in front of him was terrified, heartbroken and depressed, having lost pretty much everyone for whom he cared and Laguna couldn't help but sympathize with him. To make matters worse, he felt guilty that he had somehow come out of this alive, where the others had fallen trying to protect him and the rest of their friends.

"I never asked to be the leader," Squall continued, regardless of whether he knew Laguna was actually listening or not. "Never asked for the recognition or the acknowledgement. I didn't want anyone looking up to me for a decision, but it happened anyway, and it's my fault the others are gone. They looked to me for a way out and I failed."

"I know how that feels." Laguna said gently, knowing he needed to calm the other survivor down. If there was a way out of the building he wanted for the _both_ of them to get out. He didn't want anyone else to die like this. "I got put in charge of a country that I was raised to hate, and I make difficult decisions everyday. People expect me to be able to run the country efficiently everyday, and most of the time I don't even want to get up in the morning. But this isn't about any of that. I don't know why we're the ones who get to survive, but do you think the others would want to see you like this? Sitting here on the floor feeling sorry for them and for yourself? I think you're stronger than that."

"I don't think so," Squall said but this time it was him that was interrupted.

"I'm serious, and you need to stop selling yourself short. The others told me that while the battle against Ultimecia was a success, they wouldn't have been able to do anything about it without you. You inspire their courage, you inspire their will to actually fight back. True, I don't think they should depend on you all the time, but it's not because I don't think you're capable of being in a leading position. That kind of pressure is too much for a kid your age."

Sighing, he realized that he had started rambling once again, and reigned himself in before he got too far off topic. "I understand how you feel and I'm really sorry that this whole thing ever happened, but if you don't want to make their sacrifice in vain, you'll pull yourself together and do something about escaping. Now, whaddya say?"

Squall stared at him blankly and, for a moment, Laguna felt his hope dwindle, until the teenager allowed his arms to rest on his legs. "I say you're an idiot."

Despite the insult, Laguna laughed, clapping the younger boy on the shoulder as he did. "Good to see you're back to normal."

"Whatever," Squall pulled himself up onto his feet, folding his arms across his chest. "Let's just get out of here?"

"With pleasure," Laguna said, smiling still, even as both males made it down the hallway. "The stairwell we're looking for is pretty close by. We should be there in a couple of minutes."

A couple of minutes passed them by quicker than either one would have expected, and soon they were approaching the stairs that would lead them down, quite possibly to the exit of the building. However, as they neared the door at the end of the hall that led to the stairs, the familiar moaning of the zombies greeted them and, almost blocking their path was a large congregation of the flesh eaters.

Squall shouldered the MP5K, holding it into a readied position, even as Laguna readied the MP7. "It couldn't be easy, could it?"

"Nothing in life ever is," Laguna shrugged.

As soon as the words had left his mouth, one of the zombies shuffled over towards the President, moaning in hunger as he reached out to grab him. All he received for his efforts was a bullet lodged through his forehead, grey matter splattering behind him and hitting three zombies falling into line behind him.

Laguna unloaded the submachine gun, hitting all three targets, as well as a few extra in his path of fire before turning, shooting at a few more zombies that were in his direct line of vision, attempting to clear a path towards the stairs. A quick glance towards his left told him that Squall was doing the same. At least half a dozen zombies falling to the floor before he unloaded the empty clip and searched for another. Laguna provided cover fire up until Squall reloaded the weapon and both continued to unleash their fire power upon the undead creatures; some falling backwards and landing onto their brethren, only to return to an upright position, while others remained stationary.

Hearing moaning behind him, Laguna swivelled around on his heel and, upon seeing four zombies closer to him than he would have preferred, he shot them all, lodging bullets into their throats and faces, a couple of bullets hitting them in the temple and one was shot through the eye. The remaining zombie received a third eye; right above the bridge of her nose.

He heard a cry of pain and instinctively swivelled back around, shooting the offending zombie that had just attacked Squall and watching as she fell to the floor and didn't get back up. The path in front of him was clear and he immediately approached the teenager, who was staring at the body with an expression of anguish and horror. Laguna couldn't understand why until he took the time to inspect the body himself.

It was Rinoa's.

She must have joined up with the herd of zombies, and followed them up there before they were attacked.

The pack had thinned out for the moment, but Laguna could hear them quickly converging on their location; could see their shadows bouncing off the walls in front of them as they approached them.

"Head down the stairs!" Laguna shouted.

"I can't!" Squall shouted back.

Laguna almost threw his arms up into the air. Within the last five minutes, the teenager had uttered those words twice, and they were beginning to become irritating. "I thought we went over this already! It isn't you're fault that the others are dead!"

"No, that's not it!" Squall said and Laguna could see he was holding onto the right side of his neck with his right hand. Dread filled him up as he took in the appearance but before he could ask about it, the SeeD removed his hand, revealing a large bite wound between his neck and shoulder blades. It was like one of the zombies had taken a large chunk out of him, and he wouldn't have been surprised if they had. "She bit me…" he said hollowly, looking down at Rinoa's body. "She caught me by surprise and I couldn't shoot her, but she got close enough to bite me."

"The anti-virus—" Laguna began but was interrupted.

"Didn't work on Quistis. How are we supposed to know if it'll work on us?"

"We'll just have to take that risk," Laguna said, and the moaning down the hall was getting louder. Within less than a minute, both of them would be surrounded once again.

"And if it doesn't work? I'll end up attacking you."

"You need to start thinking positively," Laguna said, before he suddenly heard moaning coming from behind him. Both males turned around, only to see more zombies approaching them from the direction they had come from, most of them missing parts of their flesh from where their brethren had bitten down on them.

Laguna cursed under his breath. The new zombie threat along with the reinforcements approaching them wouldn't give them the time they needed to escape properly. If anything, the group of undead monsters that had apparently been following them was closer, cutting their time gap between firing rounds in half.

From his quick calculations, there was enough time for one of them to get through those doors, but not both.

His mind having been made up, Laguna hefted the submachine gun in his grip and aimed at the horde of zombies heading towards them from the direction leading back to his office. "Get to the stairwell!"

Squall had heard him, but was facing the opposite direction, the MP5K he held also aimed at the zombies advancing towards them. "What about you?"

"I'll provide cover fire!" Laguna answered. "It'll stall them."

Laguna's heart sank when he saw Squall shake his head. "Then I'm staying here."

"Don't be difficult!"

"We've left too many people behind already. I refuse to do it again!"

"I'll be right behind you!" Laguna said.

"Then why don't _you _go first," Squall shot back, "and _I'll_ provide cover fire?"

Laguna internally cursed. Squall just gave him a hard glare, an expression that was telling him exactly what had just been said – 'I'm not leaving without you'. The former soldier knew that the teenager was standing right in front of the door. He knew that to open it you had to push instead of pull, knew that it would only take a couple of seconds for him to lock it up behind him.

But dammit if Squall had to decide to prove just how stubborn he could be at that very moment.

_We don't have much time left!_ Laguna's inner voice screamed at him. _If he doesn't get out of here within the next thirty seconds, we're both dead._

"You should go!" Squall said, breaking through Laguna's thoughts and the elder man shot the SeeD a questioning look. Squall shook his head before answering the unspoken question of 'why'. "You're not infected. If this anti-virus doesn't work, then I'm screwed, just like the others. But you're still clean. You have a better chance than I do. If you stay here, it's a one in a thousand chance that you'll make it. You're not _that_ lucky."

"The same odds go for you," Laguna protested. "You'll die if you stay here."

"But they can't infect someone that's already been infected. You're suggesting that you stay here, regardless of the fact that we've seen this anti-virus fail—"

"Anti-virus' only work so far. You saw how far Quistis was gone. What's to say that it wasn't already too late? The Anti-virus might still work, but only if the infection hasn't spread completely."

"That's hearsay."

"It's all we've got." Laguna took a deep breath, hoping that he wasn't going to hell for what he said next. "Besides, I am infected."

"No you're—" Squall began but Laguna interrupted.

"Yes I am. It happened just before you and Nicholas found us. One of the zombies got too close, and it scratched me. I didn't realize it until later, but considering what was happening to Quistis and what had just happened to Selphie…"

Laguna paused, but knew that time was of the essence. He couldn't just stall him by making up these stories. He needed to get him out. It was the least he could do for not being there. "I just couldn't add onto that."

"Then why didn't you take the anti-virus?"

"You were holding it. I didn't want to have to just come out and say, 'oh yeah, by the way I've been infected so gimme a needle. 'Sides. I can't stand the sight of them."

It looked like Squall bought the story, but not the reasons behind not using the only known antidote they had. Just when he knew he was about to be called out for his lie, Squall whirled around, shaking his head before turning back around to face him. "Then why the hell does it have to be me?" He shouted and Laguna could hear the sounds of the moaning getting louder. "What the hell makes me so damned special? Why do you have to die and I get to—?"

Before he could stop himself, Laguna interrupted him, his vocal cords working without his accord. "Because a father shouldn't have to burry his own son!"

Squall was about to respond but stopped, and Laguna couldn't believe that proverb had just flown out there like it did, but he didn't have time to dwell on it. Squall was distracted enough that he could physically get him out of the hallway before the zombies got to them. He reared back, mentally apologizing to the youth and pushed him backwards, watching as he passed through the doors leading into the stairwell before he shot the control pad, locking the door behind him. He had hoped the door was still operational despite the power outage, and luck had been on his side.

Though he was almost positive that it wouldn't have worked had he tried to get out as well.

Thankful that the SeeD was out of harms way (at least for the moment), he moved away from the door, decidedly not wanting to fight those things with his back against it, and started shooting the closest of the bunch. He had about four clips left, and three grenades, and he knew they wouldn't be enough to take them all out, but he was willing to give it a try.

One clip ran dry and he emptied the chamber, grabbed a full clip, brought it home and started shooting again, thankful that his training hadn't let up after all those years he spend behind a desk. He heard movement from behind and swivelled around, hitting one of the offending creatures in the face and pressed the trigger down harder, the zombies that were standing behind the first falling down after him.

More movement from behind and Laguna spun around again, knocking down the zombies converging onto his position. The intervals between when he had to turn around were quickly beginning to decrease, and he didn't know how much longer it was going to take before he was completely surrounded.

Emptying another clip from the chamber, he reloaded and continued firing, hitting three zombies in the face, one in the temple, and a few others in the neck or through the eye.

Grabbing a grenade, he undid the pin and threw it past the raging zombies in front of them towards the deeper more confined gathering in the very middle and felt the explosion more than heard it. Some of the zombies shifted, losing their footing and some even fell forward as Laguna jumped back. He turned around, shooting in front of him, hoping to clear a path and move to a position where he wouldn't be nearly as vulnerable. But it seemed to him that when one of the zombies fell forward, three more moved to its place, reaching out at him with arms extended and greedy hungry moaning.

Another clip fell dry and as he began reloading it, one of the zombies tackled him from behind, nearly knocking him to the floor with a force Laguna hadn't realized they'd possessed. The Estharian President managed to pry that zombie off of him, pushing him back into its hungry comrades, but felt his shoulder stinging a bit. He traced the scratches he had just received but didn't take the time to curse or allow the panic he was beginning to feel take over. At least now he really _was_ infected.

Even as he finished reloading the weapon in his hands, he felt another two jump him from behind, one of them grabbing the front of his shirt to stay stationary, shocking him to the point where he very barely dodged the second. A third zombie – seemingly out of nowhere – grabbed him from the side, forcing Laguna to raise his arm up and shoot at the ceiling. The elder man cursed loudly – he couldn't afford to waste the bullets – before throwing his left hand forward and knocking it into the zombie's face, the now limp body falling away and releasing his right arm.

Just as he reached for another grenade, he was pulled to the ground when another zombie jumped him from behind, joining its partner as they both bit down on either of his shoulders. Laguna loosed a curse before a third bit into his right arm, causing him to drop the MP7 out of both pain and surprise. He reached for the grenade again, only to have another of the zombies bite him in the leg, resulting in the elder man falling backwards and landing hard against the window that began just above the floor and ended at the top of the ceiling.

Even as several more of the creatures bent over him, biting and scratching him, all of them eagerly awaiting their next meal, he reached for the pin on top of the grenade, finding it harder and harder to keep his arm raised. Looking out the window, he noticed the light slowly making its way above the horizon, the beginning of the sun's rays struggling to rise from beneath the ground – to shine over a city that was probably already dead.

As his eyelids began to feel heavy, he tried reaching up to the pin of the grenade again, hoping to be able to pull it and take out the monsters that were surrounding him. He no longer felt any pain from their bites. It was as though he was merely an observer of his own fate helpless to do anything but watch as the zombies surrounding him reached to him with their greedy hands, bent over his body and taking bite after bite after bite, and he couldn't help the revulsion from taking form, knowing that he would soon be doing the same.

His arm fell mere inches of reaching its desired goal. No longer having the strength to make the strained attempt to pull the object and his gaze settled upon the increasingly lightening sky that symbolized the dawn of a new day before he finally closed them.


	18. The Sole Survivor

_"Laugh and the world laughs with you; snore and you sleep alone."  
_- Anthony Burgess

* * *

He sat and watched, though there were no security monitors within the room he was in, as the last of the trouble makers finally fell. Admittedly it had taken longer than he would have originally liked for him to be rid of them, but he couldn't help but feel impressed that they had managed the feat. Had he not had a hand in some of the occurrences in which had taken place, he was positive that more of them would have survived and caused problems for him in the near future.

Fortunately though, none of them managed to evade what he had in store for them. They hadn't necessarily died in any particular order of his choosing, save for the blonde haired boy standing in front of the elevator. He had seemed to know more about the zombies than anyone he had ever seen or met, which was of course why he had been the first to go. It would have been troublesome _not_ to get rid of him.

The biggest surprise of them all had been the infected girl. She had become infected at sundown, right when he had planned to execute his plan to its full force, and yet, she had managed to survive just a few minutes before sunrise. He had expected her to be dead shortly after her blonde friend or the dark skinned man, and yet she was one of the last survivors. It was very impressive that someone would have that good an immune system and he would have to look into that later.

The final stage of the plan was at hand, and all he would have to do was wait it out. If the target was as resourceful as he thought he was, then he wouldn't have to wait long for another encounter.

And so he sat and watched and waited.

* * *

He had been so shocked that he hadn't even realized it was Laguna who had pushed him through the door initially. But as soon as he had slipped past the landing and began to fall painfully down the stairs, he was jogged out of his momentary lapse and managed to cast a spell, the familiar white wings attaching themselves onto his back and keeping him from landing awkwardly onto his back. A moment later, he suddenly remembered what had happened the last time he had tried to cast a float spell, and considered himself lucky that, this time, it had worked.

He sat on the next landing, floating in mid air for an instant, trying to figure out exactly what it was that had just happened when the wings suddenly dispersed, and he landed with a dull thud onto his backside, wincing slightly as he inclined his head back up towards the landing he had fallen from.

His left hand immediately shot up to the base of his neck where Rinoa – where one of those things – had bitten him, and it was then that he realized what the elder man had done. Rising to his feet awkwardly, as the bite still hurt, he climbed the stairs, two steps at a time, slowly at first but gaining speed as the seconds passed. When he reached the landing, he approached the door leading back into the hallway, finding the door locked. There was no window, so he couldn't see what had happened, though he did hear gunfire sounding before it suddenly cut off.

Dread filling him, he tried harder to pry the door open, but remained unsuccessful. "Laguna?" he shouted, hoping the elder man could hear him, but no one responded. All he heard was moaning from the creatures wandering past the door.

He brought his left fist against the door, hard enough for it to hurt his hand, as he called out again, the panic slowly beginning to rise once more. "Laguna?"

He received no answer, and started to pound desperately at the door, hoping that he was just imagining things, that he hadn't just left another person behind, even if it hadn't been his fault. "Laguna!"

He brought a fist down against the door once more before he slumped back, allowing his face to drop into his hand and swivelled around, his back facing the wall next to the door and falling back into a sitting position against it, his face buried into his right hand. He tried to deny what had happened, telling himself that Laguna got out of it okay, and that he was looking for another flight of stairs heading down. That he would run into him when he reached the lobby on the first floor…

But he knew he was only deluding himself. He had heard the gunshots, and they had suddenly stopped. They hadn't faded away, which would have happened had Laguna moved away from the area. He had to face the truth of the situation. He had gotten out alive, but Laguna's seemingly infinite string of luck had finally run out.

_But he locked me out_, Squall's mind argued, defended. _He pushed me in here, locked the door and made sure I couldn't get back out to help him_.

The thought didn't make him feel any better, and it wasn't supposed to.

Pulling his legs into his chest, Squall allowed his chin to rest atop his knees. It wasn't fair, it just wasn't fair. He knew that life was cruel and sometimes bad things happened to people who didn't deserve them, but it didn't stop it from hurting. The fact that he was still alive now, even as the other's bodies cooled by the death that had taken them, made him feel worse about it. He had made far worse slip ups that night, far more mistakes than any of the others had. While Quistis and Laguna had been rightfully suspicious of him, Squall had trusted Nicholas and had been blinded by anything that screamed he couldn't be trusted at all, all under the false pretence that he might have actually been a surviving relative of his. It made him feel useless, sick and naive that anyone could have played him for the fool that he most certainly had been. If anything, _he_ didn't deserve to be where he was at that moment, mourning the loss of his comrades while he could still draw a breath.

"I'm sorry," he rasped through a throat that made it hurt to talk. His face was beginning to feel wet, but he no longer cared. No one was there to find him, and no one who mattered to him would ever come and catch him at this vulnerability. "I'm so, so sorry. If I had opened my eyes maybe more of us could have been here, could have gotten away. It isn't fair that I'm still here. I'm not as strong as everyone thinks I am, so why the hell am I still here?"

He was saddened, grief-stricken at the lost of his friends, and angry. Angry at Nicholas, angry at those things that had killed the others, and angry at himself for having been blinded to the truth, that Nicholas had been behind this whole mess the entire time. He wouldn't have been surprised if the strange man had been the one to release the infection upon the citizens of Esthar, costing everyone who lived in the technologically advanced city their lives, leaving _him_ as the only one left, the sole survivor of an epidemic that could turn even the most squeamish person into a monster who only lived to feed.

"But not for long," he muttered as he gingerly touched the bite wound that had been inflicted upon him. It swelled with whatever it was that had caused this epidemic, and he had become infected by it, having hesitated when he had seen the face of the woman he had cared about, the one solely responsible of dragging him out of his self-protecting shell. He hadn't been able to shoot her down and she had bitten him for his weakness. Sometime soon – Squall had no idea when or how long it would take – he was going to die the same way most of these people died, the same way he had watched Quistis suffer. It was exactly what he deserved to have happen.

He idly wondered what Laguna had meant by those last words, the ones he had shouted at him that had shocked him into silence. He had picked a strange proverb, and his mind – having gone numb from the self-loathing thoughts that festered there – couldn't grasp its meaning. He didn't know if he really wanted to search through the meaning behind those words, or if he even deserved to have that answer, but it was something to do before the inevitable happened.

Laguna had said 'a father shouldn't have to burry their son'.

While the meaning behind those exact words couldn't register in his mind, a voice in the back of his head was telling him not to waste his time wallowing in self-loathing. It was telling him that he still needed to do something, and that he couldn't do it by sitting here feeling sorry for himself. He wanted to tell the voice to shut up, but it was then that he realized that there was still something he _could_ do. What was to stop what happened in Esthar from happening somewhere else? He couldn't just stand by and let what had happened to him happen to everyone else. There were still people to warn, people to tell what had happened, to explain why an entire city's population had just been wiped out.

From what little he knew about viruses, he recalled that it depended on the person's immune system how long it would take for them to die. Quistis' immune system was pretty strong, probably because she was a Blue Mage, but there was no telling how long the infection would take to turn him into one of those things. He dropped his gaze to the side bag he still carried and started digging into it, hoping that the containers he carried hadn't broken on him when he had fallen down the stairs.

Luck seemed to be with him, because not a single one of them had broken during his fall and he dug deeper into the bag, finding the needle he had sterilized earlier. He slapped one of the containers inside, stashing the rest back into the bag before ripping off the remaining sleeve he had. He wrapped it around his right arm haphazardly, tightening it and flexed his muscle before he injected himself with the anti-virus, the chemicals entering through his skin and flowing through his blood cells. Squall was hoping that, if it didn't work, it would at least buy him some time until after he managed to warn the outside.

Unfortunately, he didn't know _where_ he would be able to contact the outside. The COM system inside of the President's Office (he held back the guilt as he thought about Laguna) was supposed to have been operational, even during a blackout. It had been how the Presidential Residence had been able to contact Garden during the Lunar Cry – when all of Esthar had lost their power, and even it was fried. That had to mean Nicholas was using something in order to jam Estharian frequencies from getting out. The only reason Squall could figure Nicholas would do something like that would be to prevent word from leaking out, from anyone else discovering what had happened until it was too late, just like in the movie.

Squall would have killed Irvine himself for suggesting that particular movie.

It seemed like an eternity ago that they had all sat together that one evening, that he had been bored while most of the others had been captivated over the stupid looking video Irvine had suggested. That the following night Rinoa hadn't been able to sleep and he had stayed up with her, checking under the bed and in the closets with her and all the other little idiosyncrasies that came with a young child being afraid of a monster attack. How a few days later, they all were gathered in his office on the second floor, begging him for help right after he had disconnected a call he had taken from Cid—

His head snapped up upon thinking about it. Of course. The uplink he had made using a Balambi frequency. It had been a precaution he had set up just in case another power outage took out the main power supply, so that he would still be able to work regardless of what condition the city was in. If Nicholas was jamming _Estharian_ frequencies, then the _Balambi _frequency was probably still intact! Not to mention it was on the way to the ground floor. He would be able to assess whether he would be able to escape from the ground floor exit, or if Nicholas had lied about that as well.

The anger was back, frothing at the surface, and Squall used that fuel in order to pull himself together, but pushed it down long enough for him to focus. He saw this as a mission, get to his office by any means necessary, contact Balamb Garden, warn them of the spreading epidemic and then get the hell out of the Residence. If Hyne-bidding, he'd make it out of Esthar to tell the tale.

He didn't even think about the possibility that the anti-virus was a fake.

Checking his ammunition supply, he frowned at what little remained, three clips from the MP5K, less than that for the LDA's, no combat knives, no grenades and the antivirus. He'd have to make due.

Rising to his feet, the SeeD put his own misgivings, doubts and regrets behind him as he descended the stairs, the moaning sounds having grown faint to his ears.


	19. Showdown

_Wake up! Time to die  
_- Not sure where this quote came from, but the speaker's name was Leon

* * *

Squall had quickly descended the stairs, taking three at a time before he suddenly jumped the remaining four steps, his feet falling securely onto the landing below before he started from scratch. But when he reached the eighth floor, he had heard the familiar tapping of claws atop stone. He hadn't needed to turn around to know that it was one of the infected dogs and he hurried his pace, however after that, the sound of the dogs increased.

He had recalled Laguna saying something about the eighth floor training guard dogs, and hadn't wasted any time moving away. Unfortunately, they had already picked up his scent and followed him. It had been when he reached the sixth floor that he found himself in trouble.

The door had been opened at some point or another and more of those things were making their way towards him, moaning with their arms outstretched in his direction. Turning around, he had known the dogs were closing in and so he had pulled himself over the banister and had jumped, falling the remaining three flights that he needed to go. When he had reached the second floor, he had grabbed a hold of the banister, flipped himself back over it and continued on his way.

Since then, he had run into much more of those creatures, resulting in loss of essential ammunition. Deciding to search the bodies for anything useful, he had managed to liberate a small amount from less than a percentage of the creatures he had searched. Amongst the 'treasures' he'd discovered was a double-barrelled shotgun off one of the former employees (Squall assumed that it was an item brought from home), two micro Uzi submachine guns, both of which were grabbed from two fallen Estharian soldiers at two different incidents, six combat knives (also from one of the fallen soldiers) and a small handheld Beretta – PX4 Storm version, with about half a clip inside the chamber and another full clip – seventeen rounds – sitting uselessly on another soldier's (this one looked as though he was only security detail) belt.

Now, he threw away one of the Uzi's, the ammunition having been spent and checked the second one, finding that it wasn't too far behind. The shotgun, while having been the most useful, had run out too quickly and he hadn't had the shotgun shells to reload it. It too had been discarded. The .45 Calibre had been the next in line to go, and now all he had was the remaining Uzi, the MP5K (of which only had one clip of ammunition remaining), the Beretta with ten rounds remaining, and one out of the six combat knives.

All things considered, so far so good.

He had passed the elevator when the first of his comrades – his _friends_ – had died, and he tried hard not to think about the expression on Zell's face as the elevator doors closed, separating the two. He had an objective – a _mission_ – and he couldn't afford to let his emotions botch it. Without sparing the elevators another glance, he crept down the hallway, weapons poised and raised as he headed towards his office.

He heard moaning and wondered if he would be able to get past them without wasting a shot, only to find that it was a small gathering he was coming up to. Frowning slightly, he held down the trigger for the Uzi, four out of the collective seven of them falling to the floor when the weapon ran dry. Tossing the weapon aside, he pulled out the Beretta and hit the remaining three. He was about to keep moving when one of the four fallen creatures started pulling himself up onto his feet, but that stopped when another bullet was lodged into his forehead.

The Beretta still raised, Squall moved towards the prone bodies, before turning, facing the room they had seemingly come out of. From what he could see, it looked like a break room, and it held no meaning whatsoever to the SeeD. More moaning came from ahead – from where he was heading.

Moving away from the break room, Squall continued down the hallway, until he reached the curving corridor he and the others had wandered through so long ago. There was still a group of those things around, but not nearly as many as there had been before.

One of the closer ones reached forward, his lips parting and moaning out his hunger while the others soon followed suit, blocking his path. Cursing slightly, he took deliberate aim and fired five times, knocking down each and every one of the things standing in his way before quickly moving before the others could do the same. Checking the Beretta, he only had one bullet left, and after that he had about a clip for the MP5K still inside the chamber and the lone combat knife. He didn't like his odds of escape, but at least the objective would have been completed.

Continuing along the curving corridor, he swapped weapons, the MP5K held tightly in his grip with the Beretta stashed inside of his pocket and the combat knife attached to a belt loop. He returned to the junction – the same junction he and the others had run into Laguna, Kiros and Ward – and veered to his left, knowing his office was at the end of the corridor.

A hand suddenly clamped onto his shoulder and he turned to see one of the creatures barring down at him, his mouth wide open revealing decayed teeth—

—half a second later, the creature was still and Squall was down to zero combat knives.

As he turned back around to continue towards his office, he heard more moaning and didn't need to turn around to know there was more of those things heading in his direction. Picking up the pace, he could very nearly see the outline of his office. He reached the door but found that it was locked. Cursing his luck as he headed right – hoping it would lead him to another door. As he continued his quickened pace, the moaning became louder and he realized that he had landed into their strong hold. From the sound alone, he knew he was facing a massive herd the size of the one he had seen wandering around in the cafeteria before the Licker attack and he quickened his brisk walk into a jog.

Finally, he reached another door leading into his office and pressed the keys on the card lock, hoping against hope that it was still operational. The Estharian technicians had worked out a system where – in the event the key card was lost or misplaced, an activation code would override the lock and allow him access into the room. He hadn't thought he would need it then but he was grateful he had conceded now, even as the numbers lit up after he touched them. The last of the numbers were in place and the computer beamed that access was granted—

—but the doors wouldn't open.

Squall cursed, remembering that the central door leading into his office had a delay in the mechanism, resulting in the door staying shut for nearly a minute longer than any of the others. He knew he should have called the maintenance team to fix it but he had had too much to do already. Now he wished he hadn't procrastinated.

A moan sounded from his immediate left and, cursing once again, he turned around to face his attacker, but very nearly dropped his weapon at the sight.

He had finally found Ellone, but not in the condition he had hoped.

Skin a greyish hue, eyes milky white, teeth decayed. The girl had obviously been attacked and had become one of them. She hadn't been lucky enough to escape like Laguna, Kiros and Ward had ascertained. Instead she had been killed and forced to turn. Ellone shuffled towards him, the SeeD taking a reflexive step back, bumping into the still closed door behind him as the girl closed the distance. She reached out to him, the same hungry look in her eyes, her mouth opening as she reared forward to bite him.

Squall stopped her, his own arms extending forward and pushing her back, Ellone viciously snapping at him, mindlessly attempting to overpower him and feed. It was then that he realized that she was no longer the girl he had known. She was no longer the sister who had looked after him at the orphanage. What she had become was a twisted representation of her memory and he knew she wouldn't want to be remembered as such.

Squaring his shoulders and positioning his hands, he stared into the decaying face of the girl he once knew before shutting his eyes tightly.

"Sorry, Sis…"

A loud crack echoed off the walls in the corridor and she fell limp in his grip. He cradled her still body for a moment before finally letting it go, allowing her to fall onto the ground in front of his office door. But when he looked up, he realized that he was completely surrounded on all sides – more of those creatures looming towards him, their arms outstretched as they slowly closed the distance between themselves and their target.

Finally, the hissing of the door sounded behind him and Squall took a step inside, but as soon as he did, the shuffling beings suddenly stopped where they were, their hands suddenly dropped to their sides and a blank look replaced the one filled with hunger. No one made a step forward, no one made an attempt to fulfill their need to feed as he moved further into his office and he couldn't help but wonder why, even as the door slid shut and obscured his view of the beings.

His knees threatened to buckle, but he managed to remain balanced. They were blocking that exit, but that didn't mean he couldn't go out the west door. It was relatively clear from when he had seen it a few moments ago, and he could easily take the stairs back to the first floor and get out of the building. He still had a means of escape.

But as he looked up and took in the sight of the window behind his desk, all hope of escape vanished like a puff of smoke. More of those things were surrounding the room, all standing there with the same vacant expression he had seen on the others. It was strange seeing them like this and it didn't give him any satisfaction knowing that they hadn't even tried to attack him once he got inside of the office.

So why had they suddenly stopped?

The answer to that question eluded him, but he did know something for certain. If those creatures were standing immobile in front of the window, and in front of the central door leading out of his office, who was to say they weren't already converging around the west and east doors? It was as though they had been leading him there all along, making sure he made it there without too much incident, but also making sure he didn't become suspicious about the lack of enemy sightings.

_It was a trap…_ Squall thought to himself. _And like it or not, I'm not getting out of here alive._

Hopelessness began to descend upon him, but he fought it off in favour of the mission. Even if he couldn't get out of there alive, those things weren't even attempting to come into the room so he was safe, for the moment at least. And he still had a message to deliver to the headmaster. If he could warn him and get him to initiate a city wide quarantine, just in case Nicholas had already spread the outbreak to the other cities and countries, then his death wouldn't be in vain.

It was the least he could do for his repeated fuck ups, and failure was most certainly _not_ an option.

He caught the sight of blood and looked down to the floor, remembering the woman creature that had been cut in half attempting to get into the room after Rinoa and Quistis earlier in the evening. She had been the first of the things he had ever seen, and he had watched in shocked awe at the way she dragged herself towards them even though she was already dead.

But that wasn't the reason the panic was back, clutching at his gut at such a force he thought he was going to become physically ill.

The body was gone.

He knew he and the others hadn't touched the thing anytime between them entering his office and all of them leaving together, which had to mean that _someone else _had been in the room afterwards. _Someone else _had locked the door to the west entrance and herded him towards the central door and since he knew he had left the door unlocked the last time he had been there, he immediately didn't like the direction things were heading into.

Everyone else was dead. Kiros, Ward and Laguna didn't come anywhere near his office. His team had been with him when they'd initially left, and no one had thought to lock up behind them. Which meant there was only one person he could come up with that could have done all of this.

As if on cue, the chair situated behind his desk which had, up until this point, been facing away from him, swivelled around, and sitting in the object was the smiling visage that was Nicholas Griffith. His hands were clasped together, as though he had been expecting company, his trench coat having been discarded and revealing the dress coat and shirt that had been underneath the object. More importantly, the combat knife that had been launched into the man's forehead was still there, blood having pooled out of the wound, but it looked as though the flow had stopped. The blood had dried around the weapon and onto his skin surrounding the wound. He hadn't even bothered to wipe it away.

"I find this quite ironic…" Nicholas stated simply, gesturing towards their surroundings. "I believe that this is exactly how we met the first time. You had entered the room directly through that door, and I had been sitting in this exact spot. Fancy that."

Squall said nothing, clenching and unclenching his fists and mentally cursing himself. If Nicholas had somehow managed to get into his office unannounced before, what was to stop him from getting in again?

"You even managed to take your sweet time in arriving, as you did that day," Nicholas continued, rising from his seat. "Ironic still. But I suppose that it's all in the past, wouldn't you say?"

Squall made a move towards the desk, but a low growling sound coming from Nicholas's right stopped him in his tracks. Nicholas raised a hand at the same time as the sound, his grin widening slightly. "I wouldn't do anything rash if I were you. You honestly didn't expect me to just come without set precautions, did you?"

The SeeD turned his attention towards the side of his desk and recognized the creature growling at him. It had been a collie while it was alive, but skin was slowly flaking off the dog's body, leaving patches of muscle and blood in its wake. The animal's face, which had always boarded a friendly expression, was set in a hungry gleam, her teeth barred and her red eyes narrowed, but she obediently stayed where she was sitting.

As Squall took in Angelo's features in morbid shock, Nicholas laughed lightly. "Didn't you ever wonder how the raven-haired girl died? Her animal companion's immune system is far weaker than that of a human being's. It would take but a few moments before she succumbed to the infection. The girl didn't want to acknowledge this and she died, mourning the loss of her companion."

Squall was certain that if he clenched his fists any tighter, the fingers would snap off.

"Relax," Nicholas waved off. "She won't attack unless I give the order. None of them will actually."

"So you control them?" Squall asked and Nicholas nodded.

"I've always had an interest with necromancy. Raising undead creatures – zombies as you would call them – and controlling them for my own purposes."

"There's no such thing as a zombie."

Nicholas laughed once again, only louder this time. "Foolish boy. They have stared you in the face and tried to turn you into their companion and yet you _still_ deny their existence. I don't know if that is by sheer rejection or by sheer stupidity. But you shall hold onto your ideals I suppose. Far be it for _me_ to change your opinion.

"But getting back on topic. These creatures will not attack you unless I allow it. I knew you would come here and so I allowed it, but mark my words, one turn out of line and they will annihilate you."

"And you allowed me to come here because...?" Squall asked and Nicholas nodded again.

"I supposed this question would come up. The answer is simple. Because I knew you would. Obviously I have jammed the power systems of Esthar, but it wasn't enough to jam the frequency you have set up within this room. Since the communications device is still active, I knew you would come here hoping to contact others in case you yourself didn't make it out of here alive. It'd be against your nature to do otherwise.

"And I suppose you would like to know exactly why it is you're still alive while the rest of your collective group is either dead or among my legions. It is because I willed you to stay alive, for my own purposes of course. True, you did get bitten and and you are infected, but I allowed it to happen only because you possess the anti-virus and your pride wouldn't allow you to lie down and die if you knew there was something you could do about it." Nicholas' expression darkened slightly. "I didn't appreciate your little act of retaliation, however, which is why you were attacked once and only once."

He grabbed a hold of the combat knife and pulled it out carefully, the wound closing up slowly with each movement of the object before he finally tossed the bladed weapon aside. The only indication that he had been hit by the object was the dried blood still caked upon the man's face. The knife itself bounced off the wall on Nicholas' left hand side and landed on the ground next to the desk.

"I can entirely understand why you're upset though," Nicholas went on to say. "No one likes to be lied to. However, if there is anything I didn't falsify it was the things I said about your mother."

Squall was careful not to allow his surprise show on his features as Nicholas continued. "She was a very strong willed woman, extremely intelligent. She regarded me as a threat near the end of her pregnancy, and because of that, certain things were made difficult for me."

"What was your interest in my mother?"

Nicholas chuckled at the question. "I knew that question was going to pry itself into the conversation, one way or the other. She possessed the potential to better herself, to rise above those lesser fools in that pathetic little village she lived in, and all she had to do was to leave, to see the outside world. But, instead she chose to stay, to live amongst the riffraff. So I had to take steps in order to assure that her legacy – that would be yourself – did not fall to the same fate. And now look at you. The one person responsible for the deaths of two Sorceresses who threatened to destroy our world as we knew it, and you're not even of age. Remarkable, don't you think?"

"Why?"

Nicholas threw his head back and laughed. "Why? Because I have plans for you, child. I tried to execute them before, but you just had to nobly stay behind in order to find the rest of your comrades. Look at how well that turned out, by the way. I only allowed you to do so because I knew the result would have been the same either way. They would have died and you would have been trapped, with me, with no way out. It was a win-win situation really. The odds in my favour, of course.

"But I do believe that the time for idle banter has come to an end," Nicholas concluded as he rose to his feet. "It is now time for me to put my plan into effect."

Almost instantly, the creatures standing outside of the office began to pound against the walls, all of them trying to gain access to the room. The sudden action startled the SeeD, forcing him to look all around at the windows, taking in the sight of the creatures as they leered at him hungrily, the blank expressions having been wiped away. From the similar sounds coming from around him, Squall didn't need windows to know the rest of the creatures surrounding the office were doing the exact same thing.

"I wouldn't mourn too much over your fallen friends." Nicholas shouted out over the near-deafening noises. "I assure you that you shall see them all again very, very soon."

A loud banging sound caught the SeeD off guard and he turned to see that the doors were beginning to possess indentations – all because of Nicholas' legions banging onto the surface. Looking over towards the right and placing the bag onto the floor, Squall hefted the MP5K at the door in case it was ready to give in when he heard a sound directly in front of him. Turning back around, he was barely able to dodge as Nicholas flew towards him, forcing the elder man to fly into a chair instead. The SeeD landed in a crouch, shooting at the man, but Nicholas was back up onto his feet, whirling around and lunging for the teenager. Once again, Squall dodged, but lost his footing, landing onto his side, the side of his head hitting the ground lightly as he did.

A growling sound came from his left and when he turned he was barely able to hold Angelo at bay. The reanimated dog was snarling and biting at him. Angelo fervently snapped at open air, positioning her weight atop the SeeD and started aiming those bites at his left arm. His right hand was reaching for the Beretta all the while. He managed to grasp the handle and raised the gun, firing the last bullet in the dog's forehead. Angelo fell forward and did not rise once again.

Pulling himself up onto his feet, Squall concentrated on his magic and sent a blast of Blizzaga towards Nicholas, forcing him backwards. The elder man's arm froze upon impacting with the spell, but soon afterwards, the ice melted, not exactly what Squall had been expecting. Rising to his feet once again, Nicholas flexed his fingers before charging towards the SeeD again, who was already in his casting stance. Throwing out his left hand, a blast of wind flew towards the elder man, knocking him into the wall with Squall not too far behind the aero spell. Grabbing a hold of the bookcase positioned nearby, he pulled it down on top of the other man, books falling onto the floor as Squall made his way towards his desk.

Just as he reached it, he saw Nicholas push the object off of him, books falling to the ground behind him as he shook himself off. There was a cut on his forehead, but soon the wound closed like the one he had inflicted. Before he could take a step, however, Squall was already standing on top of his desk, MP5K in his hands as he pressed down on the trigger, bullets flying and imbedding themselves into Nicholas' body, pushing him back and up against the wall. Even when the man was trapped Squall did not release the button, and continued to fire bullet after bullet after bullet in the elder man. Even when he slid down, Squall did not relent, aiming for the back of the man's head and watching as a puddle of blood began to form around the now prone body.

Finally, the clip ran out, and the only sounds permeating the room were the near-desperate pounding of the creatures trying to claw their way inside, and the repeated clicking of the submachine gun in the teenager's hands.

Jumping off of his desk, Squall pressed a button on his left, and a very loud _clank_ sounded above the creature's pounding. He had managed to add another layer of metal against the doors, something the Estharians had created just in case someone unwanted was trying to knock the door down. It wouldn't hold them for long, but it would be long enough to send his message.

Throwing the now empty and useless submachine gun to the ground, Squall began typing in the co-ordinates of Balamb Garden into the terminal uplink. The sooner he sent his message, the better everyone else's chances would be. Nicholas had been right about one thing though; he knew he wasn't going to make it out of this alive, and he would see the others soon – wherever the dead travelled anyway – but he was confident that it wouldn't be as one of those things. Angelo was no longer moving, those things wouldn't get inside of the room in time, and, unless Nicholas knew how to turn him into one of them without being infected, he wasn't going to be doing anything either.

Spying the knife on the ground near the desk, he returned his attention to what he was doing. After the message was sent, he would use that knife and _ensure_ that he wasn't going to turn. The others were gone and his guilt was nearly killing him anyway. If the others – all of whom had been cruelly dealt with by a mad-man with a virus – couldn't live past all of this, then he – who had been helped out of this whole mess the entire time – didn't deserve to either.

Nicholas had made sure he hadn't been infected until after he had the anti-virus. It wasn't because of blind luck, it was his fault.

Yet he _still_ felt responsible.

Without Nicholas' help, Squall was positive that he would have been infected when he had lost his jacket after having left Zell and Kiros behind in the elevator lobby. He was positive that he would have been ripped apart by that Licker in the cafeteria, and, even if he had survived through all of that, he wouldn't have made it out of the sewers alive. But Nicholas had wanted him alive – for one reason or another. He still hadn't quite figured it out yet – and that was why he was still living and breathing.

And Squall was going to make sure that it was the biggest mistake Nicholas ever made.

As soon as the co-ordinates were typed in, he was ready to set it up when he looked up from what he was doing. It had almost sounded as though one of those things had gotten through, but looking around the room, he knew it wasn't the case. Sighing out of relief, he instinctively took a look at where he had seen Nicholas' body fall—

—only to find that the body was no longer there.

Panic rising, Squall looked around, cursing himself as he did. If he had survived a knife imbedding right between the eyes, what was to say he wouldn't survive being pumped full of bullets? It was a stupid assumption and Squall figured that he would end up regretting it.

He turned around, noticing that the monsters outside of his office were still hard at work trying to get inside of the room and kill the only person still alive in the building. Squall would be damned if he was going to turn into one of those things, but he had bigger things to worry about. Looking left and right, even up onto the ceiling and down at the floor, he couldn't find a single trace of Nicholas anywhere. It was as though he disappeared out of thin air, but Squall knew that it was impossible. People didn't just evaporate from one place and couldn't reappear somewhere else, it was biologically unlikely.

Turning to the screen and readying himself to relay his message, something suddenly wrapped around his front and pulled him out of reach of the uplink, and he heard Nicholas laughing behind him. He tried to break out of the man's grip, but Nicholas merely tightened it, causing the SeeD to wince as a response.

"What an unfortunate waste of ammunition," Nicholas said from behind him. "You obviously didn't get it the first time. You can't possibly hope to kill me."

Nicholas tightened his grip still and Squall was almost positive that he was planning on crushing him to death. He tried to reach out towards the uplink once again, but his arms were pinned to his sides. Like it or not, he was trapped.

_It's not fair_, he thought feebly. _It just isn't fair!_

"So what do you plan on doing now?" Squall asked through clenched teeth. The grip was making it painfully uncomfortable to breathe. "Turn me into one of those things?"

Nicholas laughed again, an action that made Squall feel sick with dread. "Squall, if I wanted to do something as repulsively simple as that, I would have done it ages ago. Did I not tell you I have plans for you?"

_I can't let it end like this._ His thoughts denied what was happening. That everything he and the others had gone through that entire night was all going to be in vain. Their self-sacrifices, their deaths, everything that had happened between that evening and this morning were going to be for nothing. Though he had already acknowledged his fate, he didn't want it to end this way. In the iron-clad grip of the enemy, unable to move and helpless to stop whatever it was this mad-man had planned for him.

Suddenly, he felt as though pinprick needles were piercing into the left side of his neck and he couldn't hold back the gasp of pain as those needles pierced deeper, biting past his skin, making it even more difficult for him to breathe.

Something was flowing into him. It felt cold and foreign and he didn't like it. He raised his arms as best he could and tried to pull Nicholas' arms off him, but he could feel his strength leaving him with each additional second the foreign substance was pumped into him. His vision blurred for a moment before he was able to focus again, but before he could do anything else, Nicholas' arms disappeared from around him and he found himself falling hard against the floor, powerless to stop his descent and landing painfully onto his left arm. Wincing slightly, he heard Nicholas start to chuckle before it transformed into victorious laughter.

Hopelessness and despair began to take over as he recognized what was happening to him – it was over. He had been the last chance anyone had of knowing what had happened in Esthar, and he had blown it. He had failed to deliver the warning and now Nicholas was free to do whatever it was he had planned. He felt his eyes begin to sting but forced the emotions back, preventing them from surfacing. If anything, it was the only thing he was capable of doing at this point.

That was when Squall saw it. The knife he had used earlier in the evening. If he could get to it and will his vision to hold steady, he could pull himself up and attempt to attack Nicholas again. There had to be a weak point in the man. There was no such thing as an immortal being.

Willing himself to at least try, he slowly raised his right arm and reached out towards the object, feeling something wet seep underneath his face and knowing that it was his own blood. Nicholas' laughter pounded in his ears but he tried to ignore it as his arm moved steadily closer to the combat knife. If he could just reach it, he would at least stand a chance.

His arm felt heavy to him, but he continued to press on, even when his eye lids began to droop over his vision. He knew he didn't have much strength left but this was his only chance. He wasn't going to let any of them take him or turn him into whatever twisted creature they were. If he was going to die, it would be on his own terms and there was no way in hell that he was going to be getting back up after he was dead.

His gloved fingers brushed the hilt of the knife, and even as he tried to grab a hold of it, the light-headedness that had come over him became too much for him. He tried to shake it away, but the light buzzing that had come with it just grew louder. He was suddenly very tired. He didn't want to let Nicholas win, but his strength was just about gone by then. He forced himself to continue moving, forcing his fingers to curl around the handle of the bladed weapon. No one was immortal. There had to be a weakness that he could exploit, one that would prevent what happened in Esthar from happening to the rest of the world…

Suddenly, his hand rested against the floor just millimetres from the combat knife, and his eyes shut without his permission before he suddenly knew no more.


	20. Epilogue

_Fear is the mind killer.  
_- Paul Muad'Ib

* * *

All he was aware of was screaming.

After a moment, he stopped the sound, breathing deeply and heavily, struggling to catch his breath. It felt as though he had stopped breathing, and his lungs desperately craved the oxygen that he was currently filling them with. He didn't know where he was, only that his surroundings were darkened by the night sky. fter taking a minute to calm himself down, he proceeded to visually sweep the area and found himself lying in a bed with the sheets a-strewn. He was wearing a simple male's tank top and a pair of grey sweats and he was lying inside of a room. He wondered exactly where he was before it suddenly dawned on him.

_Esthar… I'm in Esthar…_

Both hands immediately went up to his neck, searching for the bite wounds he had sustained, only to find that they were gone. Searching himself, he realized that he was in perfect condition, which didn't seem right at all. The last thing he remembered was falling onto the floor of his office and blacking out, and now he was lying in his room?

He suddenly became aware that there was someone else sitting beside him and turned to see who it was. Shock overrode confusion once he recognized who it was.

Rinoa was staring back at him, her face paler than he remembered it, but instead of reaching to bite him with decaying teeth as he expected, she looked just as confused as he felt. She was in her sleeping clothes, an oversized t-shirt with bike-shorts underneath, but to him she was a sight for sore eyes.

A moment passed between them before Rinoa flew forward, resting her head against his chest as his arms flew around her, holding her close and willing that this wasn't a dream. She began to cry, her shoulders trembling and he looked her over, checking to see if she had any injuries from the endeavour they had both had to face and was surprised to find that she was perfectly fine.

There was only one thing that made sense to him and he was bound and determined to find out if he was right. Still holding onto Rinoa with his right arm, he reached out onto the nightstand with his left and checked the date before sighing in relief when he realized he had assumed correctly. It had all been a dream, a horrible dream. None of it had really happened, the exchange with Nicholas, the virus that reanimated the dead, watching everyone he knew and cared about die in front of him, all of it. It hadn't been real. It had all been the result of a stupid imagination and an even stupider cheap horror film.

_I'm seriously going to gut Irvine for this…_

Rinoa looked as though she was finally calming down, and Squall released his grip on her, allowing her to sit up against the headboard, following her example and doing the same, even as he looked at the alarm clock. He definitely wasn't getting any more sleep that night.

"It was _horrible_," Rinoa said finally through a shiver, breaking the silence between them, and Squall didn't need to ask her what she was talking about.

_She must've had a nightmare too. He thought to himself._

Even if he had wanted to, he didn't need to prod her to say anymore. "I was in my room, getting ready to head outside – Selphie and I were going to go shopping – when I noticed I had a scratch on my leg. You know the kind, you didn't realize you got scratched and later on you notice it and wonder how it happened?"

When Squall nodded, Rinoa continued with her explanation. "So I went to the infirmary – it wasn't too deep but I went anyway, just in case. But just after I got there, there were these strange people that just came in, and they started attacking the other patients. I had the pinwheel with me, but I didn't want to hurt anyone, right? But then I noticed that the patients that had gotten hurt were starting to get back up, and they started joining in, and I realized that there was obviously something wrong with them when they started for me. Angelo and I took some of them out but then Quistis came out of nowhere and started shooting at them too."

Squall's stomach tightened at the familiar circumstances, and he hoped that this wasn't a sort of side-effect of the Sorceress powers Rinoa had accepted. He would never forgive himself if she had been forced to witness his nightmare. The thought that it could have easily been hers didn't cross his mind.

Rinoa seemed to realize this, and her expression changed from slight terror to confusion and worry. "Squall? What is it? Are you okay?"

Squall nodded after a minute went by before turning to look at her. "These people, in the infirmary. Where these people killing the patients before they got back up?"

"Yeah, they were actually. One guy's head was bent at a strange angle and I was amazed at how—wait…" Rinoa stared at Squall strangely before continuing. "How did you know about that?"

"I think I might have had the same dream," Squall confessed. As much as he didn't want Rinoa to blame herself, he knew she deserved to know the truth.

Rinoa looked confused for a second before a realization dawned on her. "My powers… I must have relayed the dream to you… Squall, I'm so sorry—"

"Hey, it's not your fault. It could have just as easily been my bad dream being transferred onto you. And besides, we can't expect you to be able to control your powers yet. You only just became a Sorceress."

"Don't blame yourself. This was entirely my fault—" Rinoa cut herself off when a dog-shaped creature jumped up onto the bed and the couple screamed in unison at the sight of it, but after a moment, they realized that Angelo was alive and normal, with her tongue hanging out as she panted, eagerly ready to greet her mistress.

Both Rinoa and Squall exchanged glances that would have been comical given any other circumstance, having practically jumped into the other one's arms before directing their gazes back at the collie. Oblivious to what had just happened, Angelo moved closer to her owner, snuggling in between the teenagers and making herself quite comfortable before lying back down, her chin lying across Rinoa's legs.

Squall frowned at Angelo and Rinoa leaned her face in so that they could see eye-to-eye. "That's not funny, Angelo."

Angelo couldn't have cared less. She stared back at Rinoa, her tongue still hanging out with her tail wagging.

Suddenly, there was a loud pounding noise coming from the front door and once again, Squall and Rinoa jumped. Angelo moved away from her owner because of the sudden movement and, almost looking insulted, hopped off the bed. The pounding became more frequent and even louder as both teenagers refused to move.

"Squall…" Rinoa said after a full minute had passed. "Go check to see who it is."

Squall turned on her incredulously. "Why don't _you_ go and look? You're the Sorceress."

"And as your Sorceress," Rinoa moved her leg underneath the covers and kicked the male out of the bed. Squall landed on the carpeted floor beneath him, glaring up at her as she continued. "I'm ordering you to go take a look."

Rising to his feet, Squall continued to balefully glare at the raven haired girl, who glared right back at him, but the impromptu staring contest ended when a familiar voice cut through the silence. "Selphie wants in! Let me in!"

"Forget about Selphie!" A second voice, also familiar, cut in. "_I_ want in! Ow! Selphie, stop hitting me!"

Sighing in relief, Squall finally moved from where he was standing, approached the door and undid the lock. In turn, both SeeDs entered the room, the blonde male and the brunette nearly bowling their Commander over in the process as the door slid shut behind them.

"Don't _do_ that!" Rinoa shouted, even as she was climbing out of the bed. "You scared us half to death."

"Us?" Selphie said, turning to stare at the Commander, to which Squall stared at her levelly.

"I could always just put you two back in the hallway."

Selphie turned a pale shade of white before shaking her head. "I'll be good."

Zell, who had been unnaturally quiet since entering the room, ran a hand through his hair, which wasn't gelled in its normal style. In fact, both SeeDs standing in front of him were still in the pyjamas, probably not bothering to change before leaving their respective rooms. Zell was simply dressed in a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt, whereas Selphie was wearing light blue button up pyjamas with yellow birds – presumably Chocobos and Chicobos – scrawled on the material in a diagonal pattern.

"Why are you two here?" Rinoa asked, coming to stand next to Squall.

"Well," Selphie said, turning a shade of red. "Um… I know it sounds really dumb, but it was really scary. You see, I had this really bad dream…"

"You too?" Zell asked incredulous. "So did I." Upon realizing what it was he had said, he began blushing like the shorter girl. "Kay Selphie, you were right. It _does_ sound dumb."

"Was it about zombies?" Rinoa asked the question that was on Squall's mind.

"Yeah," Zell said as Selphie nodded. "How'd you know?"

Rinoa hesitated in her answer for a moment and, upon exchanging glances with Squall, she sighed reluctantly. "…We had one too. A nightmare, I mean. And there were zombies in it."

"Where was yours?" Selphie asked. "Mine was here in the Residence."

"Same with us," Squall said, to which Rinoa nodded.

"That's weird." Zell said. "_Really_ weird. That's where I was in my dream too."

Pausing for a second, Zell frowned thoughtfully. "Wait… the only other time we had a dream the exact same was when Ellone sent us to the past, right?"

Squall and Selphie both nodded.

"You don't think this was her doing, do you?"

"I don't think so," Squall said. "Ellone's power is to send people she knows to the past as people she knew back then. I know _I _never set foot in the Residence before the mess with Ultimecia, and even when I did come here, I didn't run into those things."

"So we all just had the same dream?" Selphie asked. "Out of the blue?"

"I think this is somehow my fault," Rinoa said depressingly. "I still don't know the limits to my powers, so either Squall or I were having a nightmare, and I guess my powers dragged you two in it as well."

"Quisty and Irvy were there too," Selphie said almost thoughtfully. "So were Sir Laguna, Kiros and Ward. Do you think _they_ might have had the same dream too?"

As if on cue, the sound of frantic knocking on the door filled the air, before a muffled 'ow' followed it. Almost immediately afterwards, there was another knock, only this time it sounded more sedate than the previous one, as if the interloper was trying to retain their composure.

"That's your cue, Squall," Rinoa said, gesturing towards the door.

Sighing, Squall complied, moving towards the metal object and unlocking the door once again. This time, he was greeted by Irvine and Quistis, both of them dressed in their sleep wear. Quistis entered first, followed by Irvine, who was rubbing the back of his head. Clutched tightly in Quistis' arms was a text book, presumably what she had hit Irvine with.

Taking in the presence of the others, Quistis sighed, pushing her long hair – which had been left down – out of her face. "I take it we weren't alone in our predicament."

Selphie and Zell shook their heads and Squall moved away from the door, not bothering to lock it this time, assuming that they would have more visitors within the next few minutes.

"Nightmare?" Rinoa asked.

Irvine nodded in response. "Oh yeah. You could say that."

Squall noted that Quistis was watching Angelo out of the corner of her eyes. The dog must have sensed it as well, because she immediately stood up and began to walk over towards the former instructor. Quistis turned a shade paler and pushed Irvine in front of her, who stared at the elder girl as though she had lost her mind. Angelo merely stared at the two before turning back around a hopping up onto the bed, making herself comfortable on the side that Squall normally slept on.

Pointedly ignoring the dog, Squall turned his attention back to Irvine. "You were saying?"

"Right, nightmare." Irvine scratched the back of his head. "See, I was just walking around, trying to clear my head, and I run into Quistis, who says she had a nightmare too. We talked about it and found out we had the same one, and thought maybe y'all had the same thing happen to you."

"You guessed right," Zell said. "I'm never looking at an elevator the same way again."

"But if we all had the same nightmare," Quistis said, pointedly ignoring the comment. "How did it happen? Is that even possible?"

"We thought of a possibility," Selphie interjected. "But Squall shot it down."

"I already explained how it happened," Rinoa said, sounding frustrated. "Either Squall or I had a nightmare and my powers dragged everyone else into it. So it's my fault."

"Don't say that, Rinny," Selphie said. "We don't even know for sure that it was your powers."

"What other explanation is there?" Rinoa asked pointedly. "It's the only one that makes any sense, and you know it."

Suddenly, the door slid open behind them and Laguna, Kiros, Ward and Ellone – all dressed in their sleep wear – were revealed to be standing there. Laguna had his hand raised ready to knock and, upon seeing the faces of the SeeDs and Sorceress staring back at him, he lowered his hand and hid it sheepishly behind his back, probably in the hopes that they hadn't actually seen that.

Smiling sheepishly, the President of Esthar coughed in his other hand before clearing his throat. "Didn't think the door was unlocked…"

"Sorry for the interruption," Kiros interjected. "But none of you managed to have a nightmare about zombies by any chance, did you?"

When no one responded, Kiros nodded before speaking again. "I'll take that as a 'yes'. We think we might have the culprit."

Ellone waved sheepishly at the group of teenagers and turned around, probably attempting to leave, only to have Ward standing in her way, shaking his head. Hanging her head, Ellone turned back around and frowned.

Squall and the others exchanged glances, Selphie and Irvine both shrugging in response before Laguna cut in. "Let me explain. Out of the ten of us standing here, there was only one of us that didn't get chased around by zombies. And no matter where we went, we never ran into her."

Squall chose to keep himself from contradicting the elder man. It was obvious he was onto something.

"What's your point?" Rinoa asked, folding her arms across her chest.

"What Laguna's saying is that we all got hunted down by those things and pretty much looked around the entire Residence, but not once did we run into Ellone. That's because Ellone was kind of responsible."

"Tell them what you told us," Laguna gestured and Ellone sighed, looking extremely guilty.

"Well, I was about to send Squall to the past—"

"Again?" Squall asked, raising an eyebrow. "Why?"

Either she hadn't heard him or she was deliberately ignoring him. Despite this fact, she continued with her explanation. "But he was already asleep. Then, something unusual happened."

"What was it?" Selphie asked.

"Well, I sort of became an observer in his dream. I could see everyone and hear everyone talking, but it wasn't me. I was watching everything through him, kind of what you experience when I send you to the past. I couldn't do anything to get his attention, or to get anyone else's attention for that matter. He couldn't hear me, so he probably didn't even realize I was there."

Squall nodded and Ellone sighed before continuing. "I don't know how it happened. All I know is that I was there, but I wasn't there. I think that's why no one was able to find me. Because I wasn't actually thinking for myself.

"Depending on a dream, you perceive things differently than you would in real life. In this case, we all were seeing things in our own perspective, and because there was no one to watch my perspective, the dream me was sort of erased—except for the very end. Squall was so worried about me, wondering where I was and if I was safe that he sort of placed me in the dream as a zombie. I guess it was an explanation as to what had happened to me. It was a large inconsistency, so obviously the mind'll come up with a solution if it doesn't receive one.

"Anyways, the best I can understand it is this. Squall was in the middle of a dream to begin with when I tried to use my powers. His dream was more intense and overwhelmed me, thus sort of forcing me to observe the dream through his point of view. I think what happened with the rest of you was that his level of distress was so high that he drew Rinoa in and as a result, Rinoa's powers allowed her to grab a hold of anyone she could think of and dragged them in as well."

No one spoke for what felt like a long time, but finally, Quistis broke through the silence. "That… actually does make some sense, in retrospect."

"So the dream was Squall's all along?" Selphie asked, tilting her head to the side.

"I never woulda thought," Irvine said, shaking his head before grinning suddenly. "Didn't know the movie'd scare you that much, buddy."

Squall immediately looked up from his own thoughts at the comment, scowling as he did. "It didn't."

"Sure…" Irvine said in a tone that indicated he didn't believe him. "Whatever you say."

Squall rolled his eyes. "Honestly. You all know I was falling asleep during the damned thing."

"Do you need a hug, Squall?" Rinoa asked sweetly.

"It didn't scare me," Squall said, quickly becoming annoyed at all of them.

"It's okay to be scared," Rinoa said, waving off his denial. "We're your friends. We won't make fun of you if you admit it."

Squall's frown deepened as he turned to look at Quistis, hoping the former Instructor would have the sense to know the stupid movie hadn't had any effect on him.

"That's it," Quistis said, sporting a smirk of her own. "No more horror movies before bedtime for you, young man."

"You mean it really _did_ come from a movie?" Laguna asked. His eyes wide in shock. "Well damn. Who'da thought?" Turning to look at Kiros and Ward, he shook his head slightly. "And you guys say _I_ have an active imagination."

Squall sighed exasperated, knowing fully well that whatever he said in his own defence wouldn't do the situation any good. He knew for a fact he had been half asleep while the stupid zombie movies were playing. He had barely been paying any attention at all. He had no idea why they would suddenly turn into something as horrifying as that nightmare had been.

"I don't know about any of you," Zell broke in, causing everyone to stare at him. Zell shifted his gaze towards Squall, a large grin on his face. "But that was, by far, the scariest, creepiest horror adventure type dream I have _ever_ seen in my entire life, and I've seen plenty."

Not at all sure about what the other SeeD was saying, Squall was surprised when the next set of words left the brawler's mouth. "Let's do it again!"

* * *

It had been a few days since the strange nightmare, and everyone's mannerisms seemed to be returning to normal, though it was thanks to a few changes. Quistis had managed to secure a new room on the other end of the hallway from the one she had been in recently, having been attacked there in the first place. She then resorted to using the automatic lock the technicians had installed on her door to prevent any unwanted guests from barging in, to the dismay of both Selphie and Rinoa.

Zell no longer relied on the elevators in the Residence to take him anywhere. Instead he chose to take the flight of stairs everywhere he went, even if the journey was long. When Quistis had pointed that fact out to him, the brawler had merely replied that it was good exercise. The only changes that Irvine had displayed were that he stayed as far away from the eighth floor as possible, and camped out in Selphie's room for the duration of their stay. Besides having a new roommate, Selphie hadn't really changed after the dream, though she always dragged someone with her when roaming the Residence at night, regardless of who it was.

Squall himself had finally requisitioned the paperwork for the maintenance team to fix the delay on the central door leading into his office. Approximately half a day after the nightmare, the door had been fixed and he no longer had to wait for a minute to pass before entering the room. Though he was a bit weary of the office as a whole, he remedied the situation by adding to his hidden stash of weaponry and, despite how it looked, always had his gunblade with him at all times. He wouldn't have been surprised if the others had followed the example.

Currently, he found himself being led through the corridors of the Presidential Residence by non-other than the Commander-in-Chief himself, who didn't appear to be any worse for wear from the nightmare he had been a part of. It sort of unnerved the teenager that the man didn't appear to have been effected and secretly he wondered what it was the elder man was on and if he was willing to share.

The only thing stopping him from asking him directly was the fact that it was none of his business. He had no more right to pry through Laguna's musings than the others had to pry through his own. People dealt with circumstances differently from everyone else, and if Laguna's way of handling his inner demons was to act like he normally did, then that was his business.

Taking in his surroundings, he knew they weren't heading towards the Presidential Office. They would have had to turn right at the previous junction before continuing straight. Instead, they seemed to be veering off towards the living quarters of the Presidential Residence. He just hoped the seemingly absent minded President hadn't gotten them lost.

During his mental musings, he noticed Laguna pause at a specific door and after a moment it slid open, permitting the pair access inside. The room itself was decorated somewhat simply in comparison to the rest of the Presidential Residence, and the SeeD assumed that it was because Laguna liked to keep things simple. But whatever the reason for the President bringing him to the room eluded the teenager as the door slid shut behind him.

Laguna sat down on a couch located on the farthest end of the room and, when Squall didn't follow suit, he gestured towards a seat nearby. "You can sit down you know."

After the SeeD had taken a seat, an uncomfortable silence settled between the pair. Squall could tell that the President was hesitant in what he felt he needed to say, and he didn't know how to start a conversation with the man. Though the silence was awkward, he found himself at a loss as to how it would break, but just when he was about to take a stab at it, Laguna finally jumped in, relieving him of such a task. "I'm guessing that you're wondering what I needed to talk to you about."

"Sir, if I may ask," Squall stated, avoiding the question slightly. "Why would you go through the trouble of bringing me here if we could speak just as easily in your office?"

Laguna took in an uneasy breath before letting it out slowly and Squall figured that it must have had something to do with the dream. He had been reluctant to return to his office after what had happened, but chose to do so simply because it was convenient. Even if he had wanted to, Laguna was the President and his office was where it was. Squall could guess that no exceptions could be made under the matter.

"Well, there are a few reasons, I guess," Laguna said, rubbing the back of his head in a nervous gesture and Squall resisted the urge to ask him if he had a leg cramp yet. "But the biggest one is that it's less private in the office, and what I need to speak to you about is personal."

Squall raised an eyebrow even as Laguna took in another deep breath. "Do you remember what I said in the dream?"

"You said a lot of things in the dream," Squall deadpanned.

"To you, I mean."

The SeeD stared at the elder man, knowing that there had been many things that had been said to him. Laguna stared back and, for a moment, neither one spoke. Finally, the elder man broke the silence. "This isn't the easiest thing to explain, and I don't expect you to believe me – not right away I mean, what with someone lying to you about something that important…"

_The point, Laguna…_ Squall thought to himself impatiently, purposely trying to avoid thinking about that aspect. He was still furious with himself for believing a complete stranger over something that could have obviously been used against him like it was – even if Nicholas didn't really exist.

"…Do you want to talk?" Laguna suddenly blurted out, jarring Squall from his feeble attempt at not thinking. "About what Nick lied about, I mean."

"Not particularly."

"But it'll help," Laguna pointed out.

Squall shrugged in response. "What's there to talk about? I was lied to. Didn't we already have this talk though?"

"I don't think I gave you a straight answer before," Laguna said. "When you asked me what I would do if I were in your position. If someone where to come up to me and tell me that they were my son, I think I would believe them; even if they didn't have any evidence or proof to back up their word. I'd take it at face value. I _would_ want proof. A test or something that'd validate what they were saying, though."

Laguna muttered something under his breath, but he said it too low for the SeeD to pick up. "But I didn't bring you in here to brood on the past. There's something I need to talk to you about."

"I think you've already established that," Squall muttered and Laguna nodded in response.

"What would happen if someone else just suddenly told you that _they_ were your father," Laguna suddenly blurt out, and immediately gained the SeeD's attention. "And was willing to prove it?"

Squall didn't say anything right away, the question having caught him off guard. Why would Laguna want to know the answer to something that complicated? Moreover, why would he want to ask _him_ about that? Was it because of what he went through when Nicholas had lied to him? Was it about the mixed feelings that had been left behind after he had found out the truth? It was none of his business so why would he want to know?

He could tell Laguna was staring at him, waiting for an answer to his question. Normally, he'd say exactly what he was thinking, that it wasn't any of his business and he shouldn't have even bothered to ask, but he couldn't be disrespectful to the President. It was standard protocol, and he couldn't afford to just brush him off like he would anyone else thus jeopardizing relations between Esthar and Garden.

Finally, he managed to scrape together an answer and hoped the former soldier would get the hint and stop prying into the subject. "I wouldn't take it at face value. I'd want to see this proof and, depending on what it is, I guess it'd go from there."

Laguna nodded in response, seemingly satisfied, and Squall hoped the subject had been concluded. The last thing he wanted was to talk about the deception, or other possibilities that probably would never happen. It was just too depressing.

"I hope you know that I didn't mean proof as in stories or hearsay." Laguna broke into the brief silence, much to Squall's chagrin. "I meant as in actual proof. Like DNA or blood… you know, that sort of thing?"

"Blood is considered to be DNA."

"You know what I mean," Laguna said sheepishly. He muttered something underneath his breath and Squall could have sworn he thought he had heard something about a smart ass.

Managing to regain his composure, Laguna sighed once again. "I've been meaning to talk to you for a while, ever since the mission to take care of Ultimecia. I'm not sure if you noticed or not, but there was just so much to do, and our jobs made it pretty impossible. Then I thought, with the dream, that I wouldn't ever have the chance to tell you."

"Tell me what?" Squall asked. _Anything_ to change the subject.

"The truth." Laguna said simply and just as Squall was about to press him further, Laguna jumped in. "About who you are."

"With all due respect," Squall interjected. "I already know who I am."

"Well, yeah…" Laguna said, stuttering slightly as he reached up to scratch the back of his head anxiously. "Of course _you_ know who you are, I mean, you're you. It's not like you're suffering from some kind of amnesia, and you're not sick so you don't need me to tell you the basics, and you certainly don't need a doctor… can we possibly start over?"

_Without the psycho-analytic bullshit, sure._ Squall didn't give voice to his inner musings and simply nodded in response.

"I haven't been this nervous since I asked Raine to marry me," Laguna continued to ramble. "I couldn't even say the words so I just shoved the finger onto her ring – err, I mean the ring onto her finger."

"You're rambling," Squall interrupted. "Why _are_ you nervous in the first place? Whatever it is, I'm not going to tear into you."

"You just might…" Laguna said.

"What could you possibly say that would give me reason to verbally attack you?"

"The truth?"

Squall merely rolled his eyes and refused to comment as Laguna continued. "Beating around the bush doesn't seem to work that well, so I guess I'll do for you what I did for Raine."

Squall blinked confused. "You're going to put a ring on my finger?"

Laguna slapped himself in the forehead. "No!"

Taking in another deep breath, he released it slowly. "When Ellone found me at the Lunar Base, she told me what happened in Winhill after I left and things that I hadn't known until she told me."

"What didn't you know?" Squall asked when Laguna broke off suddenly. He had never seen the President at such a loss of words before, not even in the past.

"I didn't know," Laguna began, and it seemed as though he was holding his breath. "that Raine was pregnant. I knew she died, but I didn't know how or why."

Squall frowned thoughtfully, not really understanding what it was Laguna was saying. He remembered that Ellone had said something about a newborn baby, so he had already known Raine had been pregnant, and suspected that the birthing process had been too much for her. He also could assume that Laguna had been the father, since Ellone had mentioned that Raine had wanted him to see the child.

But he couldn't figure out where this conversation was heading, or why he was being told all of this. Clearly, it wasn't any of his business, and he had wondered why Ellone had wanted him to even know about the baby in the first place. Did Ellone know something he didn't? Had he had a run in with this person before and not even realized it? He didn't think he had met anyone who reminded him of the former soldier, but then again just because Laguna had a son or daughter, didn't mean said kid was going to be exactly like him in personality or appearance.

An idea suddenly came to him. What if Laguna was asking SeeD to help him look for this person? SeeDs were mercenaries, they took on any mission so long as there was payment involved, and it wouldn't be the strangest mission they had taken.

"So Raine was pregnant and you have no idea where the child went," Squall stated simply. "Are you asking me to help you look for this person?"

"No," Laguna said hesitantly. "I already know where he is."

_Then what does he want?_ Squall thought to himself, even more confused than he had been a moment ago. "Then I have no idea why you called me here to talk to you about this. It's none of my business."

"Of course it's your business," Laguna suddenly blurted out and Squall raised an eyebrow in response.

"I don't see how."

"I'm no good with words," Laguna said suddenly. "I told Elle I would bomb at this, that I'd mess it up."

"You haven't messed anything up," Squall said, sighing in exasperation. "Look, just start from the beginning. Tell me whatever it is you want to tell me and I promise not to bite your head off."

Laguna appeared to allow the suggestion to sink in before he attempted to say anything else and Squall was grateful for that. He couldn't afford to stay with the President for the remainder of the day. He still had a lot of paperwork to take care of and, since they hadn't actually finished dispensing with the monster threat as of yet, he had to keep an eye on the extermination team as well.

After a few minutes of silence between them, it looked as though Laguna was finally reining his thoughts in and Squall resisted the urge to glance at his watch in irritation. The elder man physically stiffened, as if waiting for someone to attack him, clenching his eyes shut before he finally just blurting it all out. "You're my son."

The words didn't sink in right away, but when they did the SeeD felt as though he had run head first into a reinforced metal wall. "What?"

"I didn't know when I left Winhill to search for Elle," Laguna continued, speaking quickly as if he expected Squall to interrupt him. "Raine probably wanted to wait until after I got back. She knew I wouldn't have gone after the soldiers who kidnapped Ellone if I she told me right away. I know it's not an excuse, but when I got back the villagers didn't even tell me about you. They just said that Raine was dead and that they sent Ellone away. When you first arrived at the Residence and I told you that Ellone told me everything at the Lunar Base, I meant it, I honestly did."

Squall honestly didn't know what to say as Laguna continued with his explanation. "I wanted to tell you right away, believe me, I really did, but work got in the way again. You were busy, and I couldn't get away from the meetings and then that stupid dream happened. I didn't know if it would be a good idea to tell you so soon after that kind of experience, mainly because of what Nick did, at least not without proof."

Squall directed his gaze to the floor, suddenly finding himself in a very familiar position. The arguments and implications he had come up with before were crowding his mind once again, but this time he was even more confused than he had been the last time. Nicholas' actions flashed up in the teenager's mind, reminding him of what had taken place the last time he had opted to trust what someone had told him.

But the difference between Laguna and Nicholas was the former had Ellone to back up his claim. Thinking about it though, Squall didn't think he would be able to trust what was being said based on words, no matter who they came from.

Not without proof.

Not this time.

"I…" Squall finally managed to find his voice once again and he rose to his feet, visibly shaking his head. "I can't do this again."

"I thought you'd say that," Laguna commented sadly. "If it were me, I probably wouldn't believe me either. But I am willing to prove that I'm telling the truth. If you're up for it, I can arrange a blood test, or something along those lines."

He hated times like this, times where he didn't know what to do or what to say. The parts of his life he could remember he always knew what he was doing ahead of time, and there had only been one other instance similar to what was currently happening, and one exactly like it.

During the war seemingly forever ago, Squall had almost made a very huge mistake. He had almost allowed Rinoa to go with the Estharians to send her into space, as they had done for Adel twenty years ago. He had thought it was her decision, but when Quistis confronted him on the motives of his actions previous to this mistake, he had changed his mind, stormed the Sorceress' Memorial and rescued Rinoa. When all was said and done, he had known he had made the right choice.

Then there was the situation with Nicholas. He had wanted to believe him and had chosen to do so, mainly because he had already realized that he couldn't do everything by himself. The others had taught him that valuable lesson and he had believed it would stick with him and would form him into a more likeable person in his eyes. But that had proved to be a big mistake. Nicholas had been behind the whole horrible experience. It didn't matter that the incident had been a dream, or that Nicholas wasn't real. He felt it was his subconscious reminding him of the pain that would come from such blind acceptance.

So where did the suspicions end and the trust begin?

He knew Laguna longer than he had known Nicholas, but that didn't make him feel any less weary. He didn't know what he should do now. The last decision he had made had blown up in his face, and he didn't want to play the fool again.

But then, Ellone trusted him, had trusted him from when she was a child. He had never let her down, not willingly. And he trusted Ellone as much as anyone could trust another person. When she had left, it had been painful and he hadn't understood, but he had been four years old, no one had expected him to understand. In hindsight, he knew that if she had had the option, he would have gone along with her, but her powers posed too much of a threat. So, if he trusted Ellone, and she trusted Laguna, was it safe to do the same?

"I don't know what to do," he recanted, and he wasn't aware he had said anything aloud until he heard Laguna respond.

"I can't make you do anything you're not comfortable with, but I can make a suggestion. If you decide to take the test, you don't need to do anything after that, whatever the results. But if it proves to you that I am who I say I am, regardless of what you decide, I'll always be there. I couldn't at the beginning, and I won't make excuses, but I'm here now."

It sounded reasonable enough, and Laguna appeared to be sincere, but what if he got hurt again? The constant doubt he carried – had carried with him for Hyne knew how long – continued to plague his thoughts, and he knew it had to stop. He couldn't get through life by himself – he understood that now – but he couldn't completely depend on anyone else either. He'd have to find a balance, one that he could live with from then on.

People were going to lie. That piece of cynical logic was going to stick with him, but more important than that, there were instances where they would tell the truth. No one could live with a lie, he had learned that himself. It was a difficult thing to carry on with it, to remember each and every one of them. Though he didn't lie too often, he had lied about who he was, in order to keep himself from caring what others around him thought of him, thinking it would make him weaker and more susceptible to the pain if he didn't.

If he allowed that dream to lead his actions for the rest of his life, then he was giving up. If he depended on people too much, he was going to get hurt, eventually if not immediately. Laguna's suggestion was like a middle ground. The elder man was giving him a way out in either case.

Finally, he nodded and attempted a small smile. "I think that'd be a good start."

* * *

**_05/07/06 _**– _Oh my GOD was that a pain in the ass to get out! I'm not saying I don't like the story anymore; I'm commenting on how freaking long it took me to write the end of the chapter! The first half was easy – humour is too good to resist at times. Sorry it took almost a month to update, and I hope it was well worth the wait. _

_Now, while I was coming up with battle tactics to combat the evilness that is writer's block, I pooled all of my chapters (minus the author's notes) into one, just to see how long it actually was. HOLY CRAP! 97,285 words, and (in Times New Roman font) 253 pages. I never DREAMED that it would become this huge a monster with only 20 chapters (well, 19 and an epilogue, but you know what I'm talking about). _

_What I wanted to do after this story was concluded was to write commentary like another author has done (Peptuck), but I probably wouldn't know what to say about it except that I have a twisted imagination, and I'm getting much better at making Original Characters. I wrote this story sorta on a spur of the moment thing, right after I completed reading the novelization of Resident Evil Genesis and Resident Evil Apocalypse. I had already seen the movies, but there was so much more in the books than in the movie, which lead me to begin reading the novelizations of the games. Looking back on it, Nicholas Griffith was a name used in one of the original novelizations, so I honestly don't know if gamers actually recall the name. All I know myself is that he was an ingenius and twisted character and I needed a name for my villain (I got annoyed with calling him 'the man' all the time)._

_Like those of you who chose to read the story (whether you chose to review or not), I have favourite parts in every story I write. Mainly they are parts that I seriously cannot wait to write. Selphie's death scene was one of them. I always saw her going out in this huge explosion – ever since day one. Zell's was also predestined from the beginning, mainly because I had him pegged as a horror flick fanatic (sort of how I feel about Final Fantasy). He knew more than his fair share and the villain couldn't have that so he killed him off. Quistis was also predestined actually. I loved Rain's death in RE:Genesis, and I pictured Quistis going out in the exact same way._

_Speaking of Rain, I actually caught the irony of melding the two genres together since Laguna's late wife's name was Raine (albeit different spelling). It was hard at times to _not _call her by name, simply because of the dramatic ramafications it would have on Laguna's character. He would've found it funny... in a morbid sense of the word._

_I know I found it obvious from the get-go that Squall was going to be the last one standing, and I hoped that it wouldn't turn people off the story, but you know what? I talked with a couple of people online – people who were helping me with my writer's block – and they were surprised by who lived longer than who, and they didn't expect Squall to be the major player. Maybe that's just me. _

_Wow, I guess this story really did get a commentary after all. _

_Well, the long and short of it is that the Inspiration Bug alleryd me and Writer's Block finally had its fun (after what, 19 chapters of being on hiatus), but I did manage to update almost all of my stories while working on this final chapter, so it's a small victory._

_So now, Coming of the Apocalypse is completely finished. Well, not completely actually. Like most of my projects, there will be a sequel. I believe it will probably be called Rise of the Apocalypse, or something along those lines, so keep an eye out if you are interested._

_Comments from the peanut gallery (that's you readers) are welcome. Likes, dislikes, favourite moments, things you feel I need to improve on, and (the most important in my opinion) did the ending totally suck or just suck a little bit? Let me know. Until the sequel, adios!_

* * *

**_11/09/06_** – _Only a slight alteration from the previous. Most things stayed intact, but some description was added, a couple of movements taken out or replaced, and most importantly, quotes added to the beginning of each chapter, each having some kind of role or emphasis on the occurrences of the chapters. _

_Also, the sequel has been posted – it's official title is 'Enter: The Apocalypse'. It's just the prologue and its close to 600 words (shorter than I'm used to posting actually; it's bothering the hell outta me), but more should be posted very soon. I now have _two _jobs to juggle along with social time. I wonder when I'm gonna have some actual _me _time through all of that._

* * *

**_04/23/09_** _- I feel guilty for not posting a comment in so long, especially when I've been constantly recieving emails and reviews asking about the sequel and why it isn't posted. Well, the sequel was posted for a little while, but I took it down due to the fact that my ideas for it were all rather stale. I have been thinking about ways of improving it, but if I do follow through and end up re-writing it, then I will end up re-writing this ending (which makes me sad because I like the way this whole thing ended). As it stands right now 'Coming of the Apocalypse' is merely a stand-alone. _

_Again sorry for the lack of word on the sequel; I know people have been looking forward to it for a while now, and I am hoping to not let anyone down. _


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